Creepypasta: Rebirthing Fear
by Hewhoimagines
Summary: Turns out Gamindustri is not the only digital realm, as the Gamers find out the hard way. As Nick is captured by Polybius, the others have to rescue him with a new friend, before eternal fear leaks out to the multiverse! (This story was made with Nkirby, and continues from The Four Outsiders.)
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

Stress was a thing amongst all living creatures, and that was a well-known fact. Even monsters, of the most horrifying caliber, were not exempt from it. Or one should say, monsters that were formerly horrifying, which was such a case for he who blended in with the trees.

The Slender Man, is what he was called by those who knew of his infamy. But amongst his own kind and allies, he was constantly hounded and hissed at, being recently called a disgrace that needed to retire. All because of incidents on the outside, and a film, leading to fear diminishing even further than it already had.

The situation escalated when the emperor, ruler, boss, whatever you wanted to call him…

Well, he had a few things to say to Slender Man. And this was quite a problem, since the majority of them were aware of the normal world, which was outside, that they could not interact with. They always knew what went on, being fueled by nightmares, and speech passed along. But the speeches heard as of recent, got attention for a different reason.

He wore a cloak of enigmatic proportions and design, masking his appearance, as he sat in his throne. His eyes were large and circular, nothing but black pits beneath the magenta shapes. And as he stirred in his seat, his glare became more stern.

This entity, his name was Polybius, the current man in charge of the realm. Tucked away into a tiny corner of hell in another world, dropped into this one for his manipulation and urban legend, so that he would never be forgotten. Slender Man was going to be in charge himself, but wasn't sure of his responsibility, so Polybius took the stand with his experience.

It was a good decision in hindsight, especially considering now, with the fumble of Slender Man's film. "You know why you're here, I don't have to explain it. Slender Man, are you asking to have yourself removed from this world? We had just hired Momo for help, and this blunder happens."

"It is out of my control, sir." Slender Man tried to explain himself. Even though his face as blank as always, one could see he was tired and stressed out.

"Out of your control," Polybius then rose from his seat, staring down at Slender Man. "Did you think the same of the other beings here that had been dropped out of existence?" Deeply sighing, Polybius grumbled to himself before speaking again. "I'll give you that, your origin is still regarded even now, unlike many who had left this world. But continuing this could lead to you being dropped, we are already in a desperate time right now. Do you understand what I mean?"

Slender Man knew all too well. All the competition, attention and fear being shifted away from them, no one being afraid any longer of small internet legends. Video games, other horror creations…

"You need to find a solution to this."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You caused this dry spell when Momo could have solved it for a short while, now you need to fix it." Polybius explained. "Either a new proxy that is actually frightening, a hidden gem, you have to think of something. Creations in this realm get destroyed if they aren't quickly given life. Now go, come up with a plan, ask others for help if you're really that clueless. Not that you should be at your age."

He didn't want to grumble about it, not in front of Polybius, and not that he would anyway. It was out of Slender Man's character to complain about anything. He had to accept this, even if he didn't really agree with it. One would think that Slender Man would have the power to fight Polybius back, considering his great amount of strength, but he was only second in the command line for a reason. No one could top Polybius, he was a master at invoking insanity and control, he was the only reason none of these monsters were tearing themselves to shreds… for the most part.

Some who were unlucky would immediately get themselves killed if they weren't strong enough to survive against stronger, more frightening beings. They say that the Skin-Taker's cape becomes longer each time someone does not survive, or that Sen would gain some newly corrupted residents. Slender was not weak, and he would make certain to not be heckled by anyone.

Well, that said, when he left the rather stern meeting, he was immediately greeted by a tall woman standing behind him, nearly his own height. She wore a large white hat and a white dress to match, greeting Slender Man with a strange noise that sounded almost masculine.

"Popopo…"

"Hello to you too, cousin," Slender Man said.

Hachishakusama, sometimes called just Hasshaku-sama to most, Tall Lady to others, or just Eight-Feet-Tall. Whatever you called her, she was a distant, Japanese relative to Slender Man in a way. No was certain if they were related by blood, but most certainly by occupation and appearance, most would assume that they were. They were both pale, tall, stalked children and kidnapped them to unknown fates.

The main difference was the fashion sense, the fact that Hasshaku-sama had a face and hair, and she preferred to stalk around roads or tall hedges rather than forests. The only real question was whether Slender Man called her "cousin" out of respect for the fellow kidnapper, or because Hasshaku-sama was so snide when it came to joking about it, that he ended up playing along.

"In trouble for that film, were we?" She continued laughing, with that deep "popopo" sound that would give most monsters a run for their money in terms of masculinity. "It's okay, it will blow over in about a month, and everyone will forget about you too I'm sure."

"Very funny."

"I'm being nice really, the others right now, they're being much more cruel when it comes to speaking of you. They all know that you probably want to hide from them." Slender Man winced again, since avoiding confrontation was exactly as he had planned. How irritating for his cousin to read him so easily. "You could say they're out for your blood right now, is there anything more embarrassing than that film?"

"You have no position to mock me with the adult films and comics based around you, which led to humans no longer being as afraid."

Recoiling, Hasshaku-sama glared at Slender Man. "Don't bring that up again, as much as I'm making fun of you, I'm actually on your side. Don't make me regret sympathizing with you."

She was right, that was too far. "Right, sorry. I've been stressed out, you can understand why I'm sure. Not really in any particular mood to chat right now either." Rubbing his forehead with tendrils, Slender Man made his way into the deep woods. "I have to fix this for Polybius— no, this whole realm. So please, I would rather be left alone."

With that, he took his leave. Hasshaku-sama took a hint and drifted back to the others, who were still chatting like crazy, nonstop.

—

Normally, blending in with dead trees with long branches would be a relaxing way to pass time, to wait for whatever unsuspecting victim came by, but right now that wasn't the case for Slender Man. This was a time for thinking, and being alone, getting away from it all so he could figure out how to fix this mess. If he didn't, that could mark the end of this realm.

If only there were a way to extend the sources of fear, surely Polybius could do something about his old home that could help them. Hopefully an idea could come to him that was physically possible, and no one would call out for him while he was trying to get some silence.

There had to be a solution, something out there had to help, but what were the chances of it? Was an answer just going to appear in a little rift before him? A connection that could solve everything?

He really had to think about it, Slender Man was not a creature to rely on luck, even if luck happened to appear out of nowhere.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER ONE**

**The Arrival**

Nick sat there in his apartment, leaving the PS4 on by accident while he was on the phone. He was up late at night, playing Slender: The Arrival. On the other end, his girlfriend Natalie was scolding him for staying up at this hour. Somehow it was as if she knew he would be staying up past 1 A.M., maybe she was psychic.

"We still got finals to study for!"

"The last of mine ended yesterday. I'm just killing time until we have to move out."

"That doesn't mean you stay up all night."

"But you're up this late as well, you hypocrite."

"That's because I still need to study!"

"See? We both have our reasons."

"Except mine's good, and yours is bad."

"What's wrong with relaxing after a stressful time?"

Their squabbling and lack of sleep was making Nick's pulse rise a little, which unintentionally caused a few minute sparks of the New Game Plus energy to emit from him. It wasn't noticeable, as they fell onto Nick's controller, causing a reaction that would mean nothing but trouble.

Slender Man was walking through the woods, still not knowing how to fix the situation. The quietness of the area wasn't helping as much as he had hoped. He wondered just how the Skin-Taker got so lucky with his own television program, and while asking him for help could possibly do good, the skeleton would more likely brush Slender Man away for making a mockery of himself.

That was when something caught his eye— figuratively of course— just past a few trees in the distance. An intruder? A newcomer that wouldn't last a day? Slender Man drifted towards the bright, blue light, and soon saw that it appeared to be a rift, a tear in the reality. As he poked one of his limbs inside of it, Slender Man saw that there was no harm done to him, indicating that this void was safe. Just on the other side of it, he could see a young man as well.

A regular, young man, an outside source that had somehow come into contact with them. Was it possible to touch him? Reaching his tendrils further, Slender Man slowly wrapped around Nick's ankles, able to feel that his legs were indeed solid. Nick snapped out of his phone call, looking down at the floor.

Feeling something, Nick looked down, and in shock, followed the black line towards the tv, where Slender was looking right at him. "Uh, Natalie, you're not going to believe this, but Slender Man is leaking out of my tv."

"Seriously, that's the best you could come up with….Nick…..Nick?"

Nick dropped his phone, trying to make a break for the door. Slender Man saw this and made his tendrils taunt, making Nick trip. Falling, he was able to grab the doorknob and open it, but his grip was losing fast. He knew he couldn't call for help as it others could get dragged into this. Thinking fast, he grabbed a book near him and tossed it between the door and the door frame, propping it open so Natalie and the others could get in. Letting go, he was dragged into the tv, where Slender Man was looking ominously. "BRING IT ON!"

"Wait, what, Nick? What did you say? Nick, answer, come on!" Not liking the silence, despite the call still connecting, Natalie prepared to go to Nick's room, where she hoped there was a simple answer.

In the middle of the forest, Slender Man was amused. This human was not giving in to his fear, and was struggling to break free. He was looking forward to breaking him, but not until he got the answers he seeked. "How are you - ?"

**BOOM!**

Slender Man was knocked back by a rocket to the face. His grip weakened, allowing Nick to squirm out. Nick got up to continue his attack, only to see his RPG destabilize and disappear from his hand. Looking up, he realized that the blast only stunned Slender Man, barely any damage was done. "Oh, crap." Was all he could say as Slender Man ensnared him again. "Your power will be most useful. Yes, Polybius will be most pleased." Nick's glared intensified at the mention of that name. He hoped that Natalie would figure things out quickly, or he was most likely done for.

Natalie grumbled on the way to Nick's room. Her lack of sleep was bad enough, but now Nick is in trouble. Or something. She didn't know, and that was what was bugging her. Reaching the room, she paused to see that book holding it open. And in a sloppy manner. She knew that Nick was carefree, but not downright lazy. Looking around, she saw Nick's cell on his bed, still in call mode. Not liking it, she around some more until she laid her eyes on the PS4. Looking upon it caused her "special" senses to go off. Picking up the controller, she got the PS4 out of rest mode and looked at the most recently played game. Seeing what was played and remembering what he said, Natalie started to fear for what was happening to Nick. Using the residual aura as a conduit, she focused her power, and formed a small portal. Locking on to fixed coordinates, Natalie stepped through to Lastation, hoping to find information on Nick's location.

However, the area of Lastation Natalie had arrived at was a bit different. Had this been here before? It must have, but she had never seen it until now. A small building, slightly run down, almost like an abandoned factory. A quick glance at the sign above, and Natalie some old, faded letters. The area clearly used to be an old memory card factory, as obvious from the few faded letters spelling it out, but they were now replaced with something new and shiny.

"PlayStation VR," Natalie muttered to herself. As she entered the building, she noticed that it must have been under reconstruction, since some new wallpaper was being added. Why they didn't just tear the whole thing down and replace it with something newer, Natalie didn't know.

Come to think of it, the wallpaper was a little ugly. Did someone not realize it was so bad looking? Or was it on purpose?

"Hi there!"

Natalie's thoughts were interrupted, startled by a women standing in front of her. She appeared to be around her age, just a few years older. She was quite tall, having dark, messy hair that had a hint of blue coloring in it. She wore a dark tank top, rather small shorts, and had sandals on, as well as a vest. The most notable feature was definitely her tanned skin, rather chubby look, and…

To put it bluntly, rather large chest that was probably making her shirt scream from being stretched out, because it looked way too small on her. What stood out besides that, were her clouded eyes. That combined with the white cane she was holding pretty much told Natalie that this woman was blind. A light poke against Natalie's legs told this woman that her visitor was a human.

"Do you own this building?" Natalie asked.

"I'm in charge of helping for Noire, so yeah!"

That explained the hideous wallpaper and the shady exterior then. "Helping Noire? With the VR stuff?"

"I'm Oculass, the VR expert! Noire's Playstation VR is technically my business rival, as well as inspiration, but I like to help her anyway because she's still a bit unfamiliar!" Holding her hand out, the woman smiled. "I don't think we've met before, what's your name?"

There was a level of irony in the fact that a blind person was a VR specialist, but Natalie wouldn't comment on it. She shook the woman's hand politely. "I'm Natalie, I'm not from here—"

"Oh! You mean you're those gamers from outside? Noire and Uni told me all about it, that's so cool!"

"So that means you've seen Nick, right?" Natalie then caught herself. "I mean, bumped into him?"

"No, I don't think so. It's been quiet in here just about all day."

"It's nighttime actually."

"Huh!? Oh geez, I always forget to keep track!"

I guess that's what happens when no one is around to tell you when it's getting dark out. "Anyway," Natalie continued, "so he hasn't come to Lastation at all, or do you just not know?" Oculass pondered for a moment, crossing her arms, twisting around the cane between her fingers.

"I think if he did come here, Noire would have called me about it. I may not be able to see, but my hearing is absurdly good to make up for it!" Oculass declared. "I definitely would've heard a ringtone go off, and my phones are never on silence. But yeah, she wanted me to meet him, so I don't think he stopped by here at all. Why do you ask?"

"He just kind of vanished, after he said," Natalie then sighed, realizing how stupid this sounded. "Slender Man was leaking out of his TV." For some reason, the name made Oculass' clouded eyes sparkle.

"Like, the monster?"

"He's known here?"

"Of course! The Arrival used to have Oculus support! But it was, um, for older things. It doesn't work on the latest Oculus stuff." She explained. "But we've never met him, television and movie things are not a part of Gamindustri, the same applies to internet horror things. I don't think Slender Man could uh, pull him into Gamindustri. If anything, I imagine he would get pulled somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?" That only worried Natalie even more. If Nick had accidentally unleashed a pulse of New Game Plus energy onto a game that didn't connect to Gamindustri, it would take him elsewhere? To a place where a frightening monster such as Slender Man existed? No way in hell did that sound good.

"Maybe he went to a place where not only Slender Man is, but other scary internet legends!" Oculass said, almost in a cheerful way, confusing Natalie further. "Wait, I mean, that would be bad, yeah. Um, you better get to your friends and tell them what may or may not have happened." Turning around, Natalie quickly planned to make her exit out of Gamindustri, but at the last second, Oculass began to follow her footsteps by sound. "Wait, actually, take me with you!"

As much as Natalie wanted to tell her not to, it was probably for the better to have a Gamindustri resident around to help her, and explain this better to Michael and Caela. It was late, but there wasn't much time that Natalie could waste, for Nick's life could be at stake!

—

Slender Man had suffocated Nick to make him go unconscious for a while. Not hard enough to cause any damage to his brain, thankfully, he just needed the young man to rest for a while. At least until Slender Man brought Nick back to Polybius. "This young man, he was able to open a rift outside, and I could pull him into our world. He appears to have a power, not present in regular, mortal men." Slender Man explained. "While I am not completely certain, I have a feeling that he could be the solution to our problems if we question him and look into this."

"Question him?" Polybius wondered. That would be an easy enough task. Some methods against his sanity would surely get this man to speak. "Give me a moment to summon the others forth, they will most definitely help him talk. In the meantime, awaken him." Using little signals from his hands, Polybius was able to contact the rest of the creatures from afar. Slender Man wasn't sure how he could wake Nick, as he remained unconscious and bound by the tendrils.

Thankfully, Nick's consciousness was returning naturally, feeling his feet not able to touch the ground first, which confused him. He couldn't move his arms or legs, and as his vision became less blurry, several shapes could be seen approaching him. As Nick began to wake up thanks to a few nudges against his head, he remembered what had happened earlier.

What he saw before him, were several creatures.

A statue that resembled an uncanny version of Link, a humanoid monster on his fours with long claws, a tall woman with a hat and dress, a girl with no lower half and arms that resembled chicken legs, a skeleton with a cape and hat made of a leathery substance, a zombie trying to pry itself out of the ground, and many more.

"The hell!?" Nick shouted, attempting to struggle, but soon realizing that it was pointless. Summoning a weapon or changing form wasn't possible… but could making himself intangible work? His intangible form was his human form, but it was only intangible in Gamindustri, apparently. He was helpless, and he knew it.

"Doesn't look like much of anything at all."

"You don't look like anything much as first glance either, Ben."

"Can it, Buryman."

"I say we grind his skin right here."

"Mortal man, I suggest you explain yourself. The powers you have, and your ability to tear a rift into this world, are ones that will not go ignored." Polybius explained. "Failure to elaborate, and you may be tortured until you are driven to insanity, turned into a monster by one of us." This was reaffirmed by the hungry look in the zombie's eyes, as well as the skeleton glaring with a certain intent.

"Hey! WA→it up!"

Nearly every monster there winced in pain from the loud chirping noise. Nick found the noise familiar, sounding akin to the screech of a glitching video game, which happened every time he decided to tilt the cartridges on Michael's games while he was playing them. Even Slender Man, out of pure reflex, ended up dropping Nick by accident from the obnoxious chirp.

Running towards the group was a character, a bit similar to the Link statue, but much more mobile. He wore a lavender tunic, a red hat, had purple hair, but pale skin and orange eyes. It was like when a character sprite changed colors upon corruption, but in living form.

"Sen! You made Slender drop him!" Polybius shouted.

"What are you things!?" Nick demanded to know, running towards a corner. If only he could escape right now, but it seemed the power wasn't on his side. "Answer me! Or… I'll blow you all to the next realm!"

"A normal man like you would do no such thing—"

"Hold it, Rake," Slender Man interrupted. "He has shown himself to be capable of violent defense methods, not a helpless victim. It is best we play by these demands if we wish to get what we want."

"Us!? Play by the demand of a human!?" The Rake hissed.

"Wait, Rake? Like from that weird game on Steam that Caela was playing?" Nick asked, noting the appearance of the clawed creature. "Come to think of it, we have that, and Slender Man, a statue from the Legend of Zelda, a weird recolor of Link… Is this a world of gaming horrors!?"

"You're a bit off. Horrors birthed online, not just video games." Polybius answered.

"Like… a creepypasta?" Nick shuddered, now remembering all the weird stories he would sometimes read in his off time. He wasn't as into it as the others were, but he was definitely familiarized with some of it, particularly the time when he switched to SyFy, and caught a view of Channel Zero's take of Candle Cove.

"You are in a world where horrors are created, and strive off of fear to survive. Somehow, you have entered this world. Care to explain how this was possible?"

"Well, 'entered' is such a strong and misleading word. 'Kidnapped' is a more accurate term I would use….."

"Enough!"

Sen ran and pushed Nick to the wall. "A→nswer us or know true suffering!" Nick grabbed at his arm, trying to pry it loose. While doing so, he felt a familiar reaction from the contact. Realizing that it was NGP Energy, he concentrated on his arms, changing them to Cole McGrath's. He then proceeded to unleash a shockwave, causing Sen to fly and crash into his fellow freaks, getting them all tangled. Making a break for it, he was almost at the door when he fell flat on his face.

"Stupid tendrils." He didn't even have to to turn to see Slender Man's tendril reaching out from the pile of horror, latching on with pinpoint accuracy. Using the tendrils and his limber form, Slender slithered out of the pile and life Nick upside-down. "I grow weary of your tricks. You will speak now, or - "

"Woah, woah, woah! Take it easy, especially since this is all pointless, in a sense."

"Your nonsense will not save you."

"It's not, seeing how this is mainly an Internet world, with its own rules of physics, then the New Game Plus is effectively useless to you."

"The New Game Plus?!"

"...I do not like the sense of familiarity that was in that shout."

"You know of it, Polybius?"

"Yes. How long has it been since I last heard of Gamindustri…."

"Weeeeeeellll, I've obviously overstayed my welcome. If you'll let me go, I just get out of your hair and never bother you again…."

"No, you are staying, and are going to tell us everything that has transpired in my old home. For if a way for fleshlings to enter our world has appeared, then the time for my return has come."

"Me and my big mouth."

It was too early in the morning for it, but Natalie was going to try to call her friends anyway, just to meet up and tell them what had happened. Of course, first she had to guide Oculass out of Nick's room, seeing that her white cane might bump into some of Nick's PlayStation consoles. Once they left, Natalie called Michael first, just to get it out of the way.

A few seconds passed, Natalie knew it was probably the slow start-up of having to wake at such an early time. He finally picked up, and Natalie could hear his groggy voice on the other end. "Nat, why are you calling me at this hour?" Michael asked.

"Michael, I know this is going to sound crazy, and you probably want to go straight back to bed, but this is actually a big problem. Nick hung up on me, and he got dragged into another realm because of the New Game Plus!"

"What? You mean Gamindustri?"

"I already looked there! He's nowhere in Lastation, and the woman I met is suggesting that because of the last game he played, it took him somewhere else that's really dangerous." She didn't dare mention Slender Man, otherwise Michael would probably brush this off as a nightmare that Natalie had. "We know where he might be, and I know we have our finals, but—"

"I get it, I get it. I've already seen the crazy stuff that happened in Gamindustri last time, I believe whatever it is. Just gimme a few, alright? I need a pick-me-up." Michael said, the sound of his creaking bed on his end. "You're calling Caela too, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"She's not gonna pick up."

"Why not!?"

"She wanted to stay up late to team-up with Angelica at the arcade, they're trying to get a high score, or something. But I dunno, she should have been done by now. She told me to not worry because she would be in bed by 3 A.M." Worried, Natalie promised to get back in touch with Michael, and ran off to the arcade, Oculass tailing behind carefully.

Being in a public area with someone like Oculass, who was solid for the time being… well, Natalie didn't have the time to try to dress her in something a bit more modest, and hopefully it was too dark out for anyone to get a close look at her. No one needed to have the fashion police arriving at this hour in the morning.

—

Angelica was a friend of the group of four, a buddy that had been around since childhood, and preferred arcade games the most. Usually she would be hanging out there, and had a love for either fighting games, 8-bit classics, racing, and shooting games. Natalie had great memories of playing House of the Dead with her.

The fact that Caela had been staying up late to play with her was really reckless, it was like both her and Nick didn't have a proper sleep schedule at all. Although, once Natalie arrived at the arcade, she could see the real reason as to why Caela didn't come back home sooner, since it was 3:15 now. It wasn't that she was being held up by Angelica, rather, someone else was on her way out.

Standing there, blocking Caela's path, was a man. He appeared to be around Oculass's age most likely, had rather pale skin with brown hair and brown eyes. Glasses covered his eyes, and his shirt looked… a little sweaty, which was rather gross. Sweat was already rolling down his face, and for whatever reason, it was rubbing Natalie the wrong way. She and Oculass had to stop it, before it went on any longer.

"Caela!" Natalie called out, urging her friend to pull herself away from the man.

"Sorry, I gotta go!" Caela said to the man, her discomfort turning into relief once she saw Natalie. "Thanks for showing up. Once Angelica left, I kind of got cornered and—" Caela's eyes then laid upon Oculass, and the closer inspection made her do a double-take. "Uh, who is this?" She asked.

"Hi! I'm Oculass, main force behind VR!" Caela was unsure what to make of her, especially with the vibe she was getting from her. "She's from Gamindustri." Caela turned in surprise. "And I think we're going to need her help in finding Nick."

"What happened to Nick?"

"He was dragged off."

"To Gamindustri?"

"No, to another world."

"There are more worlds?"

"Yes, and this one is bad news."

"Why?"

"Because the one who took him was Slender Man."

Caela turned to Oculass. "What?"

"He was taken by Slendy, and now he's in the world of Internet Horrors!"

"Are you serious?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but when I went to his room, there was residual NGP Energy on his PS4, and the most recent game that was played was Slender: The Arrival. And last I spoke with him, he said that Slender was coming out of the tv."

"Sounds like the late night just got to him."

"There were signs of a struggle. And his cell phone was left in the middle of a call, abandoned. I know how crazy this is, but this is the only lead we've got."

"...Michael is not going to believe this."

The three of them went back to the dorm, planning to meet up with Michael and try to reenact what happened in order to find their friend.

"Ah, so that is what has happened. They have been busy since I have left." Nick was just getting done explaining all of the major events that have happened in the gaming world. "But what is the New Game Plus?" Polybius turned to Skin-Taker. "A powerful relic that has the power to change the world of Gamindustri as the user wishes. A relic, whose power is now a part of this man." Polybius pointed to Nick, who was wondering if this realization increased his odds of survival or not. "We will see how the energy bonds with him, even if we have to dissect him." Nick put said odds at an all-time low. "But what purpose will that serve?"

"It is simple, Buryman. By unlocking the very key to that world, we will be able to invade and take it over. And use the destruction and newly acquired power from that world to spread our horror, using the gaming industry's very influence to make our presence in the outside world known tenfold! We will bring a new age of horror, and rid ourselves of potential enemies in one fell swoop!" And tremendous unison of roars and ear-scratching sounds lit up the room, threatening to make Nick's ears bleed. "And do not think that I did not notice that your powers are weakened here. Without the proper atmosphere, your gaming powers are meaningless." Outnumbered, outmatched, and his secret was out? Nick could do nothing but wish for a miracle.

"You," Michael rubbed his eyes, being dragged to Nick's apartment once Caela had been found. His tired brain, after taking in a bit of caffeine, was trying to process what Natalie and Oculass had just explained to him. "What?"

"Look, we just have to try it, even if it seems absolutely ridiculous." Natalie said, turning on the last game that Nick had played. Michael was too tired to object, but in a few moments he would be waking up more no doubt. A rift began to open from the little sparks of New Game Plus from Natalie's hands, revealing a dense forest.

"Uh, Natalie? I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but that place looks… kind of chilly?"

"What do you mean?"

Caela then averted her gaze to Oculass, and Natalie understood what she was getting at. "Right. Good idea, I nearly forgot about that." Digging through Nick's closet really quick, Natalie tossed the largest coat she could find, one that would actually fit Oculass. "Put this on."

"Huh? Why? This feels too heavy and warm!"

"For one thing, you'll be vulnerable to a bunch of monsters that will want to impale you. The other thing is, you might freeze in there if the temperature is low." Natalie explained, not willing to point out that Oculass' fashion sense wasn't exactly good.

"Aw, I'm so used to it being stuffy in the VR quarters," Oculass sighed, sliding the coat on. With that, the four of them began to enter the realm, uncertain of what horrors could really lie ahead. Hopefully they would find Nick, and fast, before something terrible happened.

The woods were full of dead trees, fog surrounding the area. It was like a chilly autumn, making Natalie glad that she dressed Oculass in better clothes. The cold air was enough to wake Michael up a little more, as he was now in awe at everything around him. "No way," he muttered to himself, unnerving for the snapping twigs under everyone's footsteps.

As one would expect, there was a sound of footsteps that didn't match up with theirs. It sounded faster than the rest, and while they didn't notice it at first, Oculass did. She halted, startling Michael who was behind her. "Someone is here," she muttered, "someone is wandering around here, watching us right now." Oculass turned her head to the source of the noise, and when the others did the same, they caught a peculiar sight.

A woman with only an upper half. Chicken legs were attached to her shoulders, and she ran around almost like an ostrich. The fog made it hard to see her face, but one could easily spot those unnatural legs and uncovered torso. "What is that thing?" Natalie wondered. "Should we go after her?"

"No," Michael answered.

"Yes!" Caela retorted.

"I'm getting mixed answers here," Natalie sighed. "If that thing there is harmful, we'll have to try to fight back. That creature better have an answer!" Tailing after it, the group of gamers plus the blind woman began their pursuit. The monster was aware of the presence of humans though, as it turned its head back slightly, before picking up speed. The fog began to fade away, but the trees became thicker, not as dead as the ones in the woods which belonged to Slender Man, and these trees blocked the creature's way.

Eventually, after nearly tripping into a ditch, the monster looked back all the way, and Natalie was mortified by her face. Large, bulging eyes that didn't blink, nose pushed upwards to show her nostrils, her naked disembodied torso, and her wide smile… it was shaped like a "V", stretching from ear to ear, almost resembling a bird, if a bird could smile. Black, disheveled hair that was standing up.

Natalie couldn't help but scream as the monster, rather than continue running, came up to her face with its mouth slowly opening. Michael panicked, but was unable to summon any items due to the power of New Game Plus being weakened. Oculass though, merely tapped the monster with her white cane. Distracted by the action, Oculass took the chance to feel the female monster.

"Ah," Oculass started, "no lower half, chicken limbs, must be Momo!" The monster, named Momo, did not attack in spite of her terrifying appearance. "She's actually harmless, so long as one doesn't fall for her tricky mind games over the phone."

"Harmless!?" Caela exclaimed.

"She's an Ubume." Oculass continued, gently patting Momo's head, which confused everyone. "A Japanese yokai, which resembles a combination of a woman and a crone. The story goes that an Ubume is a woman that had died while giving birth to a child, all they mostly do is pull pranks, by tricking people into holding a baby, which is actually a large stone."

"Oh," Caela responded, a hint of sadness in her voice over the story.

"Ubume aren't meant to be feared in spite of their appearance, some come to bring offerings to statues of Ubume in order to have a successful delivery!" Oculass carefully prodded Momo's talons with her cane, taking note of an object being clutched in between. Snatching it up while the Ubume was distracted, Oculass held up Momo's smartphone. "This one, is only threatening with influence, so the stories go!"

Passing the phone over to Natalie, Momo squawked like a bird, surprised to have been tricked so easily. "Thanks, but what am I going to do with her phone?" Natalie asked.

"I dunno, maybe she texts other monsters?" Oculass suggested.

"That's probably one of the dumbest things I've heard." Michael replied.

"In that case, it's worth a shot." As Momo attempted to get the phone back, Oculass tried to hold her back without any fear in the world. However, being that she did appear out of shape, Caela brought it upon herself to help, even if Momo's appearance was still freaky to her. "Well, what do you know, Oculass was right." Natalie said, scrolling through various messages. "I guess she's a rather social bird… thing."

Indeed, there were various messages sent between parties, one of which in particular caught Natalie's eye. One look at the name displayed made her mouth hang wide open.

Polybius?

The arcade myth? Out of pure curiosity, Natalie found herself checking Momo's messages with Polybius, and coincidentally, found the answer she was looking for.

Did you find anything where Slender found that young man?

More humans!

What do you mean more humans?

More humans from the sparkly portal

Please bring them to me, if possible. They're probably looking for their friend.

"So, Nick is with Polybius." Natalie announced, although Michael was a little distracted at the moment. Momo eventually gave up, leaving the phone behind and not wanting to push these humans any further if they were angry. She trotted away, and Natalie, with the phone in her hands, felt uneasy.

She should find out where Polybius was hiding. Quickly entering past navigational feeds seemed to suggest that Momo's sense of direction wasn't perfect, so she often needed a guide on how to get to Polybius. Surely that would work, and it did, as Natalie activated the GPS. "Alright then, let's find Polybius and save Nick!" Natalie declared.

"Yeah, okay, but before that," Michael started, still peering down the ditch. "We should get out of here, as soon as possible."

"Why is that?" Natalie and Caela then looked down the deep ditch next, and they were absolutely mortified, more at this than they were at Momo. Oculass covered her nose, able to smell something dead, as well as charred.

In the fifteen-foot ditch, were sixteen bodies, which were burned skeletons. Not old enough to be adults, given their height and their bones, made them realize that the victims were unfortunately children. Normally the gruesome didn't bother any of them, but the fact that these were innocent kids was absolutely disgusting. Who could do such a thing?

Unfortunately, the answer was right behind them, in the form of a man inside of a bear suit.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Smiling Wide**

"Burned bodies in a ditch," Oculass muttered. "Sounds like the work of Mr. Bear. A figure who pretends to be a child-friendly character."

This was a huge problem, unlike Momo, they had all come to face an actual murderer, who had targeted children above all else. They weren't kids at the very least, but it was still not a good position to be in. "Leg it!" Michael shouted, starting to run from the psycho inside of the costume. Since Oculass was blind, Natalie had no choice but to pull her along, which was a slight problem given that she was a little hefty to tug.

Mr. Bear did not chase, instead, he just watched as the adults ran from him. He held no interest in them. No, they weren't worth the trouble, not when they looked rather strong, capable of outnumbering him. Children were at least vulnerable and weak, same with teenagers mostly. They were too wary anyway. He would let them off the hook, for he knew that the rest would be more likely to get them.

They kept running, and running, until Caela found herself tripping on a mound of dirt. Her eyes widened at what looked like an unearthed skull, golden hair on its head, smiling wide at her. Crying out in terror she got back up to her feet and kept running. Everyone just had to keep going, and never stop, until they found themselves somewhere new.

—

No response from Momo, since Polybius sent her that last message. Was she getting caught up with them? What exactly had happened in those woods? Mr. Bear was still lurking around, surely he would have scared those human intruders, or captured them.

Oh yes, that's right, he forgot. Mr. Bear prefers prey that are children, and Momo was not a harmful yokai. Polybius gritted his teeth, loud enough to sound like an arcade buzzing. Even if they were to combine efforts, it wasn't likely. Momo absolutely hated Mr. Bear for targeting children, being that she was a mother. They were oil and water, like a lot of the creatures that lurked here. Many could not agree with each other.

Slender Man and Hasshaku-sama were the few exceptions. The two picked on each other like the cousins they were, usually in a mature, sarcastic manner, but they usually never fought. Ben and Sen were in a similar boat. Ben at first did not like Sen, but the latter's power of corruption and looking up to Ben like an older brother made him a bit more tolerant.

Polybius himself, well, he got on quite well with any fellow monster connected to video games. None of them were isolated into a pocket of hell like he was, which often garnered sympathy from the others. A bit strange, given that they were all heartless creatures, at least so it seemed.

Glancing at his mobile device, Polybius pondered what he should do next. Should he call Momo? Texting probably wouldn't get further responses.

Whatever Momo was doing, it had better have been good. He pressed the button to dial her, waiting a moment, before a voice had picked up on the other end, but it was not one that he recognized at all.

"Who is this?" Said a girl on the other end. Immediately, Polybius put on facetime, just to get a good look at whoever this was.

—

Natalie gasped at the sight of the hooded figure, Polybius facing her on the phone screen. "You're," she started, "Polybius?"

"That I am, human. You have taken this phone from Momo, haven't you?"

"Where's Nick!?" Natalie demanded to know.

"In good company. We plan to use the power that he holds, and we shall do the same with the rest of you—"

"That's Polybius? Why isn't he a giant, living arcade cabinet?" Michael asked, interrupting the call. "I didn't expect him to have, you know, a personified entity."

Irritated, Polybius hissed quietly before answering. "When you have my lifespan and intelligence, you can take whatever form you wish. I will warn you right now though, humans, unless you wish to be subjected to horror and insanity in its most unfiltered form, I would recommend lying down on your back, and wait for someone to collect you." He chuckled, in a rather distorted way.

Stepping forward to the rest of them, Oculass blinked her cloudy eyes. "What if you were to take me, and free Nick? How does that sound?" Natalie and the others were shocked by this selfless suggestion, surprised to hear Oculass would willingly give herself up.

Polybius though, just narrowed his eyes, finding something more off about this woman than the others. "You're a Gamindustri resident, aren't you? As much as something could be worked out, I am mostly certain that the powerful relic known as the New Game Plus is not a part of you like it is for these mortals. I am to take over the world which sealed me, not cooperate with someone from there!" His voice became a bit more booming, but Oculass remained in her position, having a sad look on her face.

"Polybius," Natalie spoke, "we're on our way to get you! Us gamers will defeat you!"

Not believing a word of Natalie's bravery, Polybius shook his head. "You won't make it. I'm going to ask the best internet horrors to obstruct your path. They will bring you all back to me, and you will share the same fate as your dear friend." He began chuckling again, leaning on his throne. "It is I who is in charge of this realm, and everyone is under my fingers. You would be a fool to go against me."

"We've gone against worse." Natalie retorted, making Polybius clench his fists. "No matter how hard you push us, we'll fight back!" After that, she hung up, not willing to listen any longer, at the risk of Polybius playing mind games.

Caela meanwhile, was trying to calm down after having to witness the skull of that girl. Pale Luna, a story she actually had read, and got chills from. She had a fondness for text games like those, which made the story hit her a little bit, especially when there was an actual, real game known as "The Child Murderer". The idea of a work of fiction being someone's twisted tale of a crime they had actually committed was just…

"Caela, you alright?" Michael asked. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" She reassured him. "So, Polybius is the ruler of this world of internet-created monsters and horror tales? I guess that makes sense, he was an urban legend starting from early 2000, right?" Come to think of it, the tale originated on the internet too, which would make Polybius the earliest being of "creepypasta" in existence.

"Kehehe,"

Everyone turned their attention to a small, Furby-like creature, having a wide smile, stretching even further than Momo's did. He was covered in fur and had long ears, as well. It was odd, but not entirely scary, besides his rather wide grin.

"You aren't going to meet with Polybius any time soon. You all stand no chance!" The little creature laughed. "At least, not unless you take a shortcut."

"A shortcut?" Natalie asked.

"What kind of shortcut? And why do you think we're going to trust you?" Michael shot back at the monster.

"Aw, c'mon, you think all horror tales are full of monsters that wanna hurt people? Come just want to make friends, you know." The little creature explained, walking towards the ledge of a mountain in the distance. Considering how Momo was described as harmless, Natalie figured that the best opinion here would come from Oculass, who followed the little furry creature.

"What's your name?" Oculass asked him, trying to find where he was with the white cane. The little gremlin avoided it and became defensive, almost seeing it as an attack.

"That's not important right now, come on! Follow me!" The creature started to run away further, and Oculass stopped at the ledge, since her cane wasn't making contact with any ground. The other three rushed over, and to their horror, there was a giant drop down below. "Down there is the shortcut! You humans got some weirdo powers, right? I heard about it!" He giggled mischievously, slapping Oculass on her back.

Gasping, she dropped her white cane, which fell down into the campgrounds below the mountain. "Go on, give it a try! You can summon a big trampoline, or something to bounce off of, right? You'll find your friend in no time if you just— oops!"

Pushing her a little harder than anticipated— or so it looked— the little monster shoved Oculass off the cliff, while her cane had not hit the ground yet. The other three shouted and glared at the little monster. "Just an accident, she'll be fine. Unless you want to try to save her." Natalie knew that going after her would be far too risky, but something in the back of her palms made her feel that she should try to save Oculass.

It was like a surge…

She jumped for it.

"Natalie!" Caela and Michael both shouted. It appeared that Natalie, for whatever reason, was trying to make herself fall down faster. As she came closer to Oculass, she did something unexpected, which was materialize a bounce pad from the earth. Oculass and Natalie bounced off of it with no harm done, and landed on the ground safely.

Upon seeing that they were alright, Caela and Michael glared at the little monster. "But, how? I mean," he then began smiling again, "look! I was right, see? A shortcut that you can all make with your powers!" Michael then picked him up by his neck, making the creature snarl in fury.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if you can do the same thing!"

"Michael, you think this is a little too far?"

"He's a murderous, manipulative freak, this is the best he could ask for!"

"Good point."

Michael then dropped him off the cliff, making the monster scream like the little beast he actually was. Just before he could go splat though, Oculass caught him with her own arms. "There you are," she sighed, feeling the monster. "That wasn't a very nice prank, Mr. Widemouth." He winced over the fact that this woman knew his name, and immediately bit onto her fingers, forcing Oculass to release him.

"Owch!" Oculass cried out.

"Curses, damn it, damn it all!" Mr. Widemouth snarled, making his escape. "Rake's area allows access to their powers? What nonsense is that!?" As he kept ranting, he vanished, which was followed by Caela and Michael making their landings next.

"Rake's area?" Caela's eyes lit up, summoning a gun. "Is that what he said? Alright then! I've played that one on my PC!" Oculass meanwhile, held her hand in pain, which led to Michael changing his own abilities to heal the bite wounds.

"Oculass, why did you catch the little freak instead of letting him go splat?" Natalie asked.

"Um, well," Oculass laughed nervously, searching the ground for her white cane before Caela handed it to her. "One of the reasons I'm rather knowledgeable on what some of these horrors are, and don't instinctively attack is because… I kinda like monsters, I don't know if it was obvious or not."

"You aren't afraid of them?" Michael questioned.

"Oh, I am. I get terrified, especially when I don't know what it looks like, or what it could do. But I mean, I like the feeling of being scared of something that I don't know. It's really fun, it gives you such a rush, a thrill!" Natalie had no clue what this girl was on about, but Michael, being someone that played the Fatal Frame games, could understand what she was getting at. "That's why so many of the VR games under my belt often involve horror! I just love it!"

"Still doesn't explain why you caught him."

"My soft spot has gotten so bad that I don't like having scary monsters be hurt. Back at home, I've come to love them all, I'm used to them not attacking me." As she kept laughing, a look of guilt was on her face. "I'm going to be honest Natty, besides wanting to help your friend, that was part of the reason I wanted to tag along. I wanted to give you information on stories I've listened to late at night, and meet them for myself."

Natty? Do the nicknames ever end?

"It's fine, Oculass. Just next time, don't be too trusting perhaps, we're surrounded by monsters that could kill us at any given second, and unlike the ones in Gamindustri, they don't know you."

"Ah, I wouldn't have been trusting if he revealed his name sooner," Oculass admitted. "Mr. Widemouth, he manipulates kids into doing something that could kill them! If I felt him a bit more, then identifying him would be much easier." She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "From now on, um, if I can't feel something, could you describe a monster to me, physically?"

"No problem!" Caela exclaimed. "But I don't think I'll have any trouble with the Rake, I'm already familiar with him!"

"There's some stories about Nintendo creepypasta I'm familiar with, but that's it mostly." Michael added. "What about you, Natalie?"

"I… only know about those Tails Doll horror stories, which aren't really a part of the character at all except in the Archie Comics." As Caela and Michael stared at her, Natalie averted her gaze. "I said I read them, I didn't say they were good or anything. Making a creepy doll badnik into a demon is just plain stupid."

Of course, but when Michael asked Nick about it, he told him that Natalie actually did get scared by one story, a long time ago. "Let's keep going! If we see that Rake, we'll blow a new hole in him! I've had enough practice on his game." Caela proudly declared. Natalie checked the navigation, and in spite of the fact Mr. Widemouth was tricking them, he technically did push them in the right direction, even if on accident.

He wasn't technically lying, he was telling the truth, even with the intent of murder.

—

As the four rescuers continued their trek through the woods, they reached a clearing, which gave them a chance to look around. Tilting her head up, Caela was able to see something poking over the trees. "Hey, does that look like a fortress?" Turning their gaze to meet hers, Natalie and Michael agreed. "That could be where they're keeping Nick. What do you think, Ocu - ?" Natalie became confused at Oculass, whose head was pointed down to the ground. "Are you ok?"

"I'm not sure." Oculass knelt down and put her hand on the ground. "Does anyone else feel a slight rumbling?" Natalie was confused at first, but remembered that people who have lost senses have their other ones a little enhanced. Michael, however, was listening to what they were saying, as a look of horror appeared on his face. "Everyone! Move! Now!" Michael headed for the trees, confusing everybody. But they decided not to question him when they all started to feel the rumbling, and it was getting quite strong.

Natalie and Caela guided Oculass to a nearby tree, where Michael was already to pull her up. After Oculass was safe, Calea and Natalie followed suit, Natalie clearing the ground as soon as a hand emerged from it, missing her foot by inches. Natalie turned and screamed to see a corpse rising from the ground, cursing her with its eyes before retreating underground. "What….what was….?"

"Buryman." They turned to Michael. "An undead corpse who haunts the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. He challenges trainers to matches they can't win, and drags them underground when they lose."

"Then how do we beat him?" Michael started to survey the ground. "I have an idea. Let me know when you see him." Caela and Natalie kept their eyes peeled, looking for any disturbance. "There!" Caela pointed at a slight protrusion of the ground. "Take this!" Michael jumped, summoning King Dedede's hammer to hit the ground with all his might, but before he made impact…..

A sudden movement appeared on Michael's side, and with a sudden flash, the hammer just disappeared, leaving Michael without a weapon. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I saw someone come close, then your hammer just glitched or something! He went that way!" Michael looked at where Caela was pointing, only able to make out a purple hat. "Oh no, it's Se - !" Before he could finish, Buryman's arm appeared and grabbed Michael's leg. "Michael, no!"

"Don't worry about me, you gotta watch out for - !" Michael was unable to finish as he was dragged under. Caela nearly dove in after him when Natalie stopped her. "We can't help if we're captured too! We need to figure out who else is here. He makes glitches, Michael recognized him, his name started with Se, what else?"

"H-he was wearing a purple hat."

"Sounds like Sen."

The two jumped for sec, reminded of Oculass's presence. "Sen is like a nega-Link, causing glitches in every game he touches. All code becomes scrambled, and games unplayable. And apparently he makes your powers go kaput as well."

"Then how are we supposed to - Oculass, I need to borrow this."

"Wait, but I - "

"Natalie, lure him out."

"Wow, you get mean when you're desperate."

"Just get out there!"

Natalie climbed out to a branch that was a little more exposed. Concentrating, she worked on summoning a power ring. And, as expected, Sen jumped out to disrupt it, leaving him wide open to get hit on the head by Oculass's cane, wielded by Caela. It was a surprising OHKO, as Sen fell to the ground unconscious. "It isn't broken, is it?"

"Nope, now how do we save - ?" Caela's question was answered by a sudden geyser erupting from the ground, launching Buryman into the air and landing in a slump. Michael climbed out a little wet, but ok. "It appears that the closer we are to Creepypastas that are related to our consoles, the stronger our powers get. Being near him gave me enough of a charge to unleash a Hydro Cannon to his face." Smiling, the four of them headed towards the fortress, spirits renewed for what lies ahead.

Polybius punched the wall, leaving a sizable hole in it. "While it is good that we are gaining knowledge, it will be of no help if we do not have anyone to defeat them!" The room became filled with Nick's laughter. "Looks like things aren't quite going to plan, are they? And all this use of the New Game Plus is sure to attract the attention of the Gamindustri CPUs, so maybe you should count your losses and let me go, huh?" Polybius turned in silence, before pointing. "Slender, grab him." Slender Man snagged Nick's limbs with his tendrils, holding them taunt. "Skin Taker, hold his eyes open!" The maniacal skeleton grabbed Nick's face with glee, happy to feel new skin under his touch. "Wha-what's going on?!"

"While it is true that your friends can defeat my subjects, will they have the same luck facing you?" Polybius pulled back his hood, revealing a simple head with sunglasses. He then lifted his sunglasses, revealing a sight that made Nick scream.

Getting knocked out by a cane of all things, it was humiliating. He didn't want to be beaten around like he was some kid! He was Sen, and sure, maybe he wasn't as mature as everyone else, but he wasn't going to take that defeat and lie on the ground like the Buryman would. Though to be completely fair, Buryman had a Hydro Cannon blasted at him, rather than just a blunt hit that was hard enough.

His eyes flickered open, almost like a glitching graphic. Sen examined his surroundings and saw that the group of four had left him on the ground, no doubt having already started tailing for where Polybius and Sen's big brother figure were hiding.

Sen knew that Slender Man and the Skin Taker were probably still with Polybius at this moment, but Ben Drowned and the rest…

No time to sit around and think about it! A bit of wrong-warping would bring Sen to where he exactly wanted to be. His body flicked on and off, like it was having trouble existing when Sen moved to certain places. Depending on where Sen wandered off, he would either stray further from where he wanted to be, or right exactly where he was needed.

A passage through the dense woods, and Sen so suddenly found himself materialized inside of the fortress, dropping down to surprise the statue of Link. Perfect, the strange connections made by his steps almost never failed him!

"You trying to warp around by passing through time and space again, Sen?" A gentle hiss escaped the statue's mouth, sounding almost silent.

"They're on their way! I tried to stop them, but I got hit on the head pretty hA→rd!" Sen complained. "They figured out that I could disrupt powers, so they tried to use something I couldn't corrupt so easily!" Ben's usual, smiling face didn't change when he heard this, almost as if his expression was just plastered there. "Buryman thought thA→t taking awA→y the Nintendo fA→n would help us out, but I think the one woman called me out!"

Ben didn't seem interested, trying to tune out the chirping until that last part. Someone actually knew about Sen and his tricks? How could that be possible? Sen wasn't exactly so well-known. He just ended up stumbling into this realm through his usual traversing, and decided he didn't want to leave because the other creepypasta monsters were so much like him.

It was odd and unheard of at the time, but perhaps Sen just wanted a space where he would fit in, Polybius allowed it since the child was useful. Certainly more useful than the pitiful rejects that edgy teenagers made, Polybius usually purged them on sight, comparing them to weak humans.

"Ben? You okA→y? I know you're normally quiet in order to be scary, but now isn't the time for it. I really need help!" Sen called out to him, hesitant to touch Ben given the consequences of his own abilities. "We can't have those super-powered normals come A→ny closer!"

"Sorry, I was just pondering." Ben replied. "It sounds like we would have to separate all of them, so they're in unfamiliar waters, thus cannot be informed. Nothing a few invisible barriers couldn't fix, make them feel trapped in a world that seems open, but really isn't. The both of us could work together on that."

"A→h," Sen chirped and lowered his gaze, thinking it over. He had the mind of a child, more-so than everyone else, which meant he wasn't always up to speed like the rest. "So there's four of them, that means there will need to be four of us, right?"

No response.

"Uh, right? Right Ben?"

Silence.

"Ben!"

When Sen looked back, he saw that the statue had vanished out of his line of vision. He had disappeared completely, no doubt to try and sneak up on someone else. "A→w man, I hate when he does that and leaves me behind!" Sen complained, preparing to look for the Rake.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Have To Go Inside**

It was so strange and so sudden, but Oculass couldn't walk any further ahead of the gamers. She felt a solid wall in her way, yet when she gently tapped it with her cane, no noises of physical collision were heard. "Um, guys?" They all looked back at her, seeing that she was suddenly blocked off. "I can't come with you. There's some kind of barrier in the way, do you see anything?"

"No, which is the weird part," Natalie replied, touching the unseeable wall. "It's like there's something invisible keeping you out. Just what in the world is this?"

"I know walls like that exist in games to keep players from going out of bounds or accessing areas, but I've never seen anything like it in an actual realm." Michael took a step forward to examine it himself, but suddenly found himself falling through nothing but the ground. He screamed as he started falling into the void, as if the earth was fake.

"Michael!" Caela exclaimed

"How did that happen!?" Before Natalie could even try to figure it out, Caela tried to go after him, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier as well. "Just what is going on here? Are we being forced to separate or something?"

Oculass pondered the thought, tapping her cane around in hopes of finding something she could walk past. "Given the amount of entities in this realm, it's not really out of the possibility someone is using mechanics found in games to keep us separated. They probably think that they can all take us one by one if they do that."

Now, the likes of Caela, Natalie and Michael could all fight if they had an area of advantage, but Oculass… could she even do anything? She has excellent hearing, sure, but could she really try to fight something that came her way?

"Are you going to be alright without us?" Caela asked.

"Without you? As in, on my own? Surrounded by monsters the potentially want to kill me, rip my throat out, or whatever else they want?" Oculass thought about for a moment before smiling, and strangely laughing it off. "That sounds like fun, experiencing my own survival horror. I think I'll do just fine, you two worry about yourselves."

More than a little concerning for the girls, but what could they say or do in this situation? At the very least, Oculass wasn't cowering and saying that she didn't want to be left alone.

—

Michael didn't know what kind of pit he fell into, it felt almost like he had been warped somewhere rather than properly dropped into an unknown abyss. He carefully searched the dark area around him, uncertain whether to activate his abilities or not, but it soon became clear to Michael that he was trapped in some sort of cave.

A very foreboding cave, feeling tight and dark, uncomfortable with little space to move around in. Michael had adjusted to the idea of caves in several video games, but a real one just left him feeling claustrophobic. This wasn't like the widely spaced, exhilarating caverns found in a Legend of Zelda, Pokémon or any other titles. It was dark, cramped, and Michael found himself hearing weird noises.

His powers couldn't be activated, almost as if they couldn't be used within the current area. "Great," he sighed quietly, keeping his voice low enough so nothing could hear him. Michael wasn't going to risk the possibility of some unholy abomination prepared to sneak up on him anytime soon.

That being said, he could still hear a voice amongst the noises.

"It's dark and difficult to move, isn't it? Real people usually die from being trapped in these kinds of caverns."

A chill went down his spine, not helped by the cold, dry air of the cave itself.

"Starvation, hypothermia, being stuck. People are left in those caves for hours or days, slowly losing any sanity or hope before passing on. Their bodies usually get left behind, permanently entombed inside, never given a proper burial. If you try to escape this place by crawling through somewhere that you believe you can make, a boulder could trap you, or you could break your own legs trying to move."

Michael's breath began to shorten, his heart accelerating from the harsh reality of cave explorations. When he was a child, he wanted to explore on his own just like in a video game, but now he was witnessing what it was really like, wasn't he?

No, it's just this realm trying to mess with him, surely it had to be just that! Michael had to ignore it and just keep moving, pay no mind to whatever lurked in this cavern, he had to get out as fast as he could.

"You are the one of four who intruded upon my territory?"

There was what appeared to be a naked man on all fours, his fingers stretched out to resemble disgusting claws. His body was twisted and unnatural, fitting of the world that Michael and his friends had entered. It was too dark to see how his face appeared, so Michael could only make out his frightening silhouette.

"You're the Rake?" Michael questioned, recalling what Caela had mentioned, damning the fact that she wasn't here right now to deal with this.

"I am quite territorial, I usually follow those who cross upon my home so I can leave them with a reminder to stay away." Slowly, he began standing on his two legs, his fingers stretching out in anticipation. "A space like this is where you will perish, I won't even make the effort to completely finish you. It would be much more frightening for someone such as yourself to die alone with your sanity slipping, just like a man named Ted did."

There was a story regarding this area? No wonder it was part of this realm.

Natalie was tapping the barrier, trying to understand it. "Any luck?" She turned to Caela. "No. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem like it has any gaps or ends." Caela was nervously looking at the ground. "So we got both walls and trapdoors that we can't see, and someone that manipulates them at will. And with our powers limited, we're severely outclassed. At this rate, we can't protect ourselves, let alone - _YAAAAAAAGGGGHH!_" Natalie would have welcomed the silence if it didn't mean what it did. "She just disappeared too, I take it?"

Oculass tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. But it was weird. It was more like she 'slid', like one of those spacial-location glitches responsible for things like Skyrim's flying horses." Oculass tapped the barrier with her cane one more time. "Well, it looks like you'll be facing off against BEN."

"Ben? As in BEN Drowned?"

"The same. It looks like you have a fight on your hands, so I'd better get some distance."

"What? But you - "

"I know, but the place we're going to is that way, right?"

"Uh, right."

"And this wall is relatively flat. I'll just follow it to the end, and continue in that direction where we'll meet up. Cool?"

"But - "

"Good. See you then."

Oculass walked off leaving Natalie completely dumbfounded. "A→w. I wanted to get at the girl that hit me, but you had A→ hand in it, so you can relieve some of my stress." The high-pitched voice made Natalie cringe, turning around to see Sen standing there.

"You're welcome to try, but I'll take down both you and your buddy."

Caela was not happy to find herself in a maze. Her only silver lining was that the fortress was still in view above the walls. But she kept running into dead ends, the passageways were too wide to shimmy up, and the walls were too smooth to climb up. It also didn't help that it felt like she was being watched. Her mood both improved and went worse when she remembered a trick that would unfortunately take hours. Grumbling, she placed her hand on the left wall and began walking.

"You think that will truly help you before you are destroyed?" Caela started to walk a bit faster before the voice could act on his words, looking up at the black sky.

"_RUN"_

That was the first thing that Caela could actually see in white letters.

As Michael's eyes adjusted to the dark, he had no idea how he was able to dodge The Rake's attacks. The long claws seemed to extend with each swipe, the arms seeming like they had extra joints. He was in a pinch, with no way to counterattack, until he got an idea. Standing near a wall, he waited until The Rake got in close. When he swung, Michael dodged, and The Rake hit the wall, breaking off several rocks. Michael quickly picked up a few and went at a distance. The Rake saw this and froze. The next few minutes were filled with tension as the two of them stood in silence, knowing that the first one to move loses.

Caela felt like she was making good progress at her pace until she felt the ground rumble. Looking up, she saw a blood-red monster the size of a building. Standing on two legs and ready to strike with four arms.

"Hello, mortal human. I am RED. Killer of both Kaiju and humans. Say your prayers, however useless they will be." He started to swing his arms, knocking down several walls. Caela's only saving grace was her small size that was able to squeeze through all the holes in the rubble, making it difficult for RED to find her. "You can't hide forever! I can easily crush this whole place instantly, but I want to see the utter despair on your face. I will crush the walls one by one until there are no more to hide behind! Then that will be the moment of your doom!" Caela would have to think fast before she became a pancake.

Natalie was very annoyed. It was obvious that her opponents were not taking this seriously and just toying with her. Barriers were coming out of nowhere, boxing her in, and any attempt at a morph was interrupted by Sen whooshing in and out with BEN's help. At one point she was able to land a hit, only to be pushed back with a sudden flare of fire. Luckily it also pushed back Sen, so her power wasn't disrupted, but she couldn't finish it due to losing her concentration. As the New Game Plus subsided, Natalie unconsciously leaned against the barrier. To her surprise, there was a small reaction. Giving a small grin, she placed her hand on the barrier, and concentrated.

The Rake couldn't take it any longer. He jumped forward, hoping his agility would come through. Michael threw the rocks as hard as he could before jumping to the side. Due to the hastily manner of the throw and The Rake's dodging, it only caused a few scratches. The Rake missed as well, hitting the wall again, but revealing a hidden chamber, where some disturbing things fell out. "Are…..those….?"

"Yes. Human bones. The remains of those who could not leave and succumbed to the madness. And you will join them!" The Rake charged forward, extending his claws as far as they could, only to be surprisingly parried. Looking, he saw that Michael deflected his attack with arm bones. His surprise left him stunned long enough for Michael to punch him with a fist covered with a human skull. The blow sent The Rake flying. Landing in a slump, barely hanging on to consciousness, The Rake stared in disbelief. "To think….that you would….treat them…..with such disrespect….."

Michael tossed the skull at him. "I just thought that they would like the idea of payback." The skull bounced on The Rake's head, knocking him out, and making the wall behind him crumble, revealing the outside and the fortress in the distance. Michael turned to the skull. "Thank you." As he left, he could have swore that the arm he used gave a thumbs-up.

Caela was running out of room. RED was bashing the walls like they were nothing, reducing the amount of hiding places. "There's no way you can stop me. We have been observing you and determining your weaknesses! So there is no way you can get energy from me, for I am not from Xbox!"

That sentence gave Caela the clue she needed. "Now I remember you. You're from the NES Godzilla story!"

"That realization will not save you now!"

"I don't think so, for you forget something!"

"What?!"

"Who Xbox stole Rareware from!"

Caela jumped out and grabbed the end of RED's tail, succeeding in absorbing some power. Acting fast, she conjured up a Rail Gun from HALO, blasting right between RED's eyes. The blast was enough to knock RED down and out. And the impact from the fall crushed the remaining walls, opening up a path to the fortress. "Now that's what I call an easily solvable maze."

Sen was confused. Natalie was just standing there, looking like anything else was more important than their match. It began to get on his nerves, for he didn't like to be ignored. His annoyance grew when Natalie started to smile. "Oh, you think you're so much better than me, huh? Why I'll - uh!" Sen jumped forward, only to find himself shifted off-target into the barrier. "OW! What - ?"

"Even if you are Creepypastas, you still have a connection to video games, and thus, the New Game Plus energy. Energy that I can take!" With a wave of her hand, Natalie caused the same trapdoor glitch that took Michael, making Sen fall deep underground.

"SpA→y me for the dooret!" Sen yelled while falling.

"Sorry, but it's my game now!" She tapped the barrier, making it crack and crumble. And with another wave of her hand, BEN came flying out of his hiding place, straight into Natalie's grasp.

"H-hey! Let go!"

"Not a chance. I don't know how long this power boost will last, so I'll need a recharger."

"Oh, you really shouldn't have done that."

"Too bad. Now let's go."

Natalie dragged BEN along, who was trying to figure out how to burn her without burning himself.

Oculass walked along the barrier, momentarily surprised to feel it crumble away. Happy she was right to believe in her friend, she resumed back on the right trail towards the fortress, wondering how long it will take to meet up with everyone. Which is why a sudden familiar voice made her jump.

"Oculass! There you are!"

"Natalie! How did you get here so fast?"

"Oh, I beat BEN long ago. It just took that long for the barrier to break down. And look who I found."

"Hello. So you're Oculass."

"I don't recognize that voice. Is that Nick?"

"Yes. I was able to escape from Polybius and the others. Now we should get out of here."

"But what about the others?"

"Don't worry. Once they know that I'm no longer there, they'll know that it's time to run."

"But they would be unnecessarily exposed to more danger."

"What's the matter? Don't you trust your own friends?"

"Oh yes. And that's where you screwed up, _Hasshaku-sama_."

"What?"

Now knowing where her foe was, Oculass swung her cane, repeatedly hitting Hasshaku-sama on the head until she collapsed, out like a light. "I do trust them. Not to lose, and not to abandon their friends. Remember, I'm blind, not stupid." Oculass walked away, thankfully not losing her bearings, and unable to contain a smug smile over her little victory.

Those who are seen by the Hasshaku-sama, are often immediately liked by her. People, usually children that are liked, are never seen again if they are taken away. One look into Oculass's pale eyes told the Hasshaku-sama that she could not see, which would have made her the perfect target.

But unfortunately for the Hasshaku-sama, Oculass was more than familiar with her horror tales.

They would probably all get back up and chase again sooner or later, but still, Polybius found himself more than irritated. Three gamers with strange powers standing up to him? Sure, fine, reasonable enough. But a blind woman armed only with a frail little cane that she uses to see?

How would he put it into words…

"If you were to put together the moments of my banishment from Gamindustri, the first time I heard Sen talk, and the combined quality and reception of Slender's movie…._**IT WOULDN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO THIS INFURIATING! MY GREATEST SUBJECTS AND WARRIORS MADE FOOLS NOT ONLY BY THESE HUMANS, BUT EVEN A BLIND WOMAN WHO CAN'T EVEN SEE THE TERROR BEFORE HER?! HOW COULD WE HAVE FALLEN SO LOOOOOOOOOOW?!" **_He then took a deep breath.__**"**Aaaaaaaahhhhh, that felt good. It is very therapeutic to just let it all out, wouldn't you agree?" The other Creepypastas could only nod in agreement.

"Uh, sure thing, my lord," the Skin-Taker stammered. "Anyway, she certainly looks like she has a lot of skin on her bones, I'll give her that. Personally, I'm anticipating the chance to turn them all into a new coat."

Polybius paused, looking over at the skeleton, a smile forming on his face. "Skin-Taker, tell me, have you ever read the book or seen the movie, 'Silence of the Lambs'?" The skeleton pondered this question for a few seconds, trying to recall if he had seen anything like it, and shook his head. "Well, I have good news for you then. The story involves a killer, who skins larger women and makes a suit out of their flesh."

"Ooooh, now I'm interested," the Skin-Taker sneered.

"This blind one, wouldn't you say she's rather large in some areas? Surely you could gain more than just a jacket from her skin." Polybius suggested, pushing all the right buttons on the skeletal puppet.

"My lord, are you asking me just to take her on, alone? You saw what happened to the Japanese child-abductor, I'm certain I wouldn't stand a chance." It wasn't that the Skin-Taker didn't think he was capable, but more-so, he wanted Polybius to come up with something clever to go along with, being that twisted minds often thought alike.

"You just need to get her alone," Polybius explained, "and send your henchmen to take away the sight-stick of hers. Perhaps something tied on strings, so she can't hear the footsteps of what is approaching her. Why, someone could come down to her like a venomous spider, maybe!"

"I'll see if I can get ahold of Horace Horrible. Any other suggestions you have?" Skin-Taker wondered. "The more messed up, the better I dare say."

"This despicable cripple," Polybius hissed, "knock her out, drag her, stab her, drive her mad until she perishes! I wish for her to see true horror before the light, even when she can't see! Skin her alive, or so help me—"

"Horace!" The Skin-Taker shouted, cackling maniacally as another marionette stumbled over to the scene.

A puppet with a blank face and large teeth, a mustache just barely above his grinning face with a monocle on top. "Yes, o' great Skin-Taker!?" Horace Horrible, the marionette, spoke in an almost squeaky, villainous voice that was rather comical.

"When the normals get here, I want you to stay on the ceiling and try to corner the blind one. Disarm her, then pull her away from the strings which hold you, and I don't care if she's too heavy!" The Skin-Taker ordered.

"Yes, of course, sir!" Horace stammered, being pulled up towards the ceiling.

—

Michael and Caela had been reunited easily, Oculass waiting for them as well as Natalie, who was dragging BEN. Although he was a statue, he felt more like a lifeless, empty shell with skin, which was more than a little creepy. BEN was hoping that Sen would warp himself back to this area, but given how random some of his teleportations could be, it seemed that he was out of luck.

He could try to get a song to be played on the spot so Natalie could be torched or electrocuted, but there was a high chance it would harm him as well. Warping to appear elsewhere couldn't be done either, not when Natalie had such a grip on him and refused to avert her eyes from him. She wasn't going to risk a potential "Weeping Angel" situation anytime soon.

"So, that fortress up there, is that your home?" Natalie asked, preparing to strike BEN if he didn't answer. "You need to tell me who else is in there, so we can be prepared for them!"

"Since when am I your hostage?"

"Right now you are, unless you want this to happen!"

Slashing at the statue's face with sword from Golden Axe summoned, BEN didn't even scream or wince from the damage taken. Natalie nearly dropped him once she saw that underneath, which was nothingness.

"I am but the empty shell of a child," BEN explained, "if you expected this to harm me, you're gravely mistaken. Only my own powers as well as the abilities of other creepypastas can do any damage. Don't believe me? Why don't you peel back more of my flesh?"

"If that's true, then tell me who else is in there, or I will use you as a shield for the other monsters!" Natalie demanded, trying to hide her disgust.

"What troubling conditions," BEN sighed, sounding depressed in spite of his usual, eerie smile. "I don't like ratting others out, that's Widemouth's job. But fine, looks like you're twisting me by the arm, not sure if that's annoying or impressive given you're the first to do so. Polybius and the Slender Man are in the fortress, naturally, but you should probably be watching out for the Skin-Taker and his crew." He paused, not because he was done, but because BEN was having trouble remembering who else was there. "Oh, I also don't recommend examining empty mascot suits."

"Empty mascot suits?"

"You may see something you don't like if you do."

That what was BEN took his chance, as Natalie was just about ready to let him go, she could feel water entering her nose and mouth, trying to fill up her lungs. "Anyway, like I said, I don't really enjoy ratting others out, so I'm afraid I'm going to silence you forever! You'll drown just as I did!"

Natalie wasn't even fazed though, as she used the New Game Plus that was obtained to turn into Ecco the Dolphin, ramming into BEN at full speed. "Seriously? Trying to get me at the last second?" Natalie laughed. "That never works!"

BEN was knocked down, unable to get up. The situation was made worse for him when a foot was placed on his face. "Nice to know you're ok." Natalie smiled to see Michael, and smiled even more to see Caela. "We heard some ruckus and went to investigate. Now we just need to find Oculass and the fortress."

"Both are over here." Oculass's voice made the three of them jump. They peered through some trees to see her standing next to an open drawbridge. "I heard water and smelled some wood, telltale signs of a moat. Then I just waited for you."

"Well good for you, but if you go in there - "

"We'll meet with a terrible fate, won't we?"

"Don't worry, we'll be prepared with him."

Natalie grabbed BEN, using his energy to give a power boost to Michael and Caela. She carried BEN inside as Caela guided Oculass. "OK, here's what we know about who's inside…."

The inside of the fortress, if one could call it that, was bleak, feeling like a distorted amalgamation of nightmares. The smell of decay was one that was indescribable, making all three of the gamers recoil, but Oculass showed no reaction. "We all need to stick together this time, we can't run off without one another, understood?" Natalie explained.

"It's really dark in this place. How do the creepypasta legends even see?" Caela wondered.

"Maybe we should keep our voices down, so nothing is alarmed by us being here," Michael whispered, which the others agreed upon. They were all armed and ready, but they still had to be careful if they wanted to avoid conflict and find Nick. Michael summoned a flashlight from Luigi's Mansion, keeping it by his side in the offhand chance it was needed, while Caela prepared a torch from Minecraft.

They started walking, making sure not to make any movements too sudden or noises too loud. Thick cobwebs or something appeared to be in the way, but they were mostly just shoved, until Oculass started following.

The "webs" were somehow tugged at just a little bit, flicking the cane out of her hand. Oculass quickly tried to retrieve it, but suddenly felt strings tightening around her body. She knew she couldn't be too loud, but Oculass had to alarm the others that she was tangled.

"Guys?" Oculass murmured, feeling more strings around her tighten. "I think I'm caught on something, can you help?" Michael looked back and turned his flashlight on to get a good look, which is when he realized something.

Those weren't webs at all, they were puppet strings, coming from the ceiling.

—

"Aha! Hook, line, and sinker!" Horace Horrible cackled from the floor above, full of arrogance as he prepared to pull up the freshly caught victim. He stopped short though, once he realized just how heavy Oculass was, and found himself struggling to yank her upwards. "Skin-Taker, sir? Could you help me out here?" He stammered, awaiting for his superior to deny the request.

"I had a feeling this would be difficult given her assets," the Skin-Taker huffed, "I'm nothing but bones! Do you really think I have any muscle that could help you with that?"

"Can you get Slender Man or someone to help me out then?"

"Slender Man is very busy handling the prisoner!"

Horace then began whimpering, continuing his attempt at pulling Oculass upward.

—

"Hey, Natalie, shouldn't we help her?" Caela asked.

"I would, but—"

"But what?"

Natalie took a good look at how badly the strings were fighting against Oculass, who was just dangling there, humored rather than annoyed or frightened. "I just don't think they're going to get very far," Natalie replied.

The strings then suddenly were pulled up even further.

—

"I think I got the hang of it!" Horace assured himself, trying not to fall down through the hole. "I've almost got her, sir! Watch!"

Tugging with as much strength his wooden body could muster, Oculass finally was pulled up from the first floor, to the second. Horace had tugged so hard on the strings that he ended up flinging himself backwards.

… However, her chest prevented further progress, forcing her to be wedged between the floor and the ceiling.

Both Horace Horrible and the Skin-Taker just stared at each other for a near minute, absolutely dumbfounded.

"It's a start," Skin-Taker huffed, "keep pulling her in."

"What!? Her friends surely know that she's being taken away by now, sir!"

"Is that so?"

—

"I can't believe I'm witnessing a real life Winnie the Pooh situation unfold before me," Michael said, eyes wide in astonishment.

"Speaking of Winnie the Pooh," Caela stammered, "there's Mickey, but his colors are inverted!"

"Inverted colors?" Oculass thought for a moment before gasping. "Guys! Be careful! That Mickey is - uh!" Horace tried pulling hard again, only to meet with the same problem of size.

"There must be a way to get her up here!" Skin-Taker looked down. "I have an idea. You keep a firm grip on the rope." Skin-Taker quickly walked off, leaving Horace alone with his risque Winnie the Pooh situation.

"What was she saying?" Caela was straining her ears to try and hear Oculass, while Michael was trying to figure out the Nega-Mickey that just stood there. Natalie was alerted to BEN suddenly squirming. "What are you waiting for, ABD? Get them!"

"ABD? Wait….." Natalie's eyes widened. "Michael! Get away from - "

"Heeeeeeeyyyy, want to see me take my head off?" The Nega-Mickey suddenly started clawing at his neck, making small cuts that oozed out a yellow-colored gunk. "It's tough, but there's a trick to it. Let me show you…" Michael started backing up to get out of his reach, as Natalie used a Golden Ring's bright glow to blind Nega-Mickey. "Who the - "

"It's Abandoned by Disney!" Michael and Caela froze at that. The supposed personification of insanity and a grudge over a cancelled Disney resort, leading to workers dying in their mascot suits, or becoming something else…..

"That wasn't nice. I only wanted to help out with a trick….." The gamers were keeping their distance, while keeping Oculass in their sights at the same time.

"From what I can get, I think a masked psycho is all he is. If we can overpower him, that should end him quickly." ABD then went for Natalie, only to run into a force field courtesy of Caela assuming Master Chief's arm. "OK, it won't last long, so we need to plan quickly. I think that one should focus on tripping and another focus on - what's that sound?" The three heard a repetitive sound that sounded like punctures. Looking up, they could faintly make out the Skin-Taker using his sharp digits to scale the wall and ceiling, heading towards Oculass.

Approaching her, Skin-Taker shouted up to Horace. "OK, you pull and I'll push!" Planting his toes deep in the ceiling, he grabbed the bottom of her feet and braced himself. "Ready? And -

"PULL!"  
"OW!"  
"PULL!"  
"OW!"  
"PULL!"  
"OW!"  
"PULL!  
"OW!"

It was obvious that they were getting nowhere, and the only things that were loosened were Skin-Taker's toes. Something he realized when he fell to the floor. Hard. The Gamers would have grabbed him, but the shield wore off and they had to bring their attention to ABD. Skin-Taker quickly got up and ran off, another plan in mind.

The moment of watching Skin-Taker led to no time forming a plan, so they had to improvise. ABD reached for Caela, and was able to grab her head. "See? It's easy. You just do _this!_" ABD looked at the head he ripped off, wondering how it became green so quickly. The head gave him a shock by quickly giving a smile, right before exploding. Caela, whose upper body turned into Stubbs, grew another head while Michael turned into Caterpie and used Stringshot to tie ABD up. Natalie gave a few deep breaths as she supplied to power needed for the shifts. With the situation reclaimed, the three of them wondered what to do about Oculass.

Skin-Taker entered the main room, knowing what the first reaction would be. "Huh? Why do you return empty-handed? You were not supposed to be that, were you?"

"I-I'm sorry Polybius, but we need some help due to some… assets...of the woman making it difficult to pull her up through the hole."

"Well, what do want for that then?"

"We just need to borrow Slender Man for a moment, until we get her fully in our grasp."

"But I need him to hold the prisoner."

"It will only take a minute or two, and I don't think the prisoner is going anywhere due to his….condition….."

Polybius looked at Nick. "Very well. Slender, assist them, but get back here when you are done. We still have work to do."

Slender Man walked a bit quickly with Skin-Taker. Secretly, he was thankful to take a break, as the screaming and yelling gave him quite a headache. He almost wished that the intruders would get here, so it wouldn't have been in vain. Thinking about the shock on their faces calmed him down quite a bit.

"It shouldn't take much effort to pull her back down to our level," Natalia said, turning her arm into one which matched the strength of Big the Cat. "Especially with our varying transformations! I should be able to break her—"

"Ah!" Oculass yelped, as her body was surrounded by various, black tentacles which yanked her upwards, with only her cane falling back down.

"Oculass!" The group of three shouted.

Their visions were all then blurred by the sight of static, as Slender Man faintly appeared in their views.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Blind Side**

Natalie, Michael, and Caela had all blacked out. When Caela slowly started coming around, her eyes immediately shot wide open, as once again, RED was towering over her, preparing to devour her entire body. RED didn't say a word, just focused on trying to eat the pest who had humiliated him previously.

A sharp pain awoke Michael with a start, as he was now witnessing the Buryman trying to bite down on his shoulder while the Rake pinned him down with his claws. Hasshaku-sama just surrounded Natalie, preparing to drag her away by some mysterious means, never to be seen again most likely. Michael had to think fast, because Caela was about to be devoured, and Natalie was going to be taken to lord knows where.

"So you're conscious now," the Rake hissed, "don't you dare try to fight us, it will make your death much more painful."

"I didn't plan to," Michael groaned, spawning a camera in his hands. "I planned on fighting her instead!" Stupefied by such a random weapon, Michael pointed the camera in Hasshaku-sama's direction, focusing before pressing a button to take her picture. She suddenly began screaming in pain, as if the camera was a supernatural kind, capable of dealing damage to her. "Fatal Frame taught me about you, tall lady!" Michael shouted to her.

He took another shot, the camera's flash blinded the Rake, which gave Michael enough time to punch him, freeing his legs in the process so he could pull away from the Buryman. Natalie woke up once she felt her head thud against the floor while Michael obtained the Belmont whip, so he could snag Caela away from RED's horrifying maw.

Once all three of them were up and moving, they all prepared their powers, but were hesitant to act. "I don't think we have time for this, do we? Oculass may be in trouble along with Nick now!" Caela pointed out.

"She's kind of resourceful," Natalie pointed out, "I'll give her about fifteen minutes to take these guys on again, then we'll worry about her!"

—

"Thank you for your assistance," Skin-Taker sighed, strapping Oculass down to the wooden table with Horace's help. "That shouldn't have been as ridiculous and embarrassing as it was, but oh well. You're allowed to go and do your own thing now."

"I would, but since Polybius voiced his anger over this one, I may have to inform him that she's now in our grasp, and surely will have no attempts of escape." Slender Man then stared down at the blind woman, watching her squirm and twist to break free.

Her struggles soon stopped, sweat rolling down her face as Oculass was getting the feeling of some genuine fear. "She's finally afraid when she's completely helpless it seems! Why, Skin-Taker sir, you and the others could just torture her sightless sanity until it all slips away! Would that be an ideal revenge for Lord Polybius?"

"No, I wish to do it the way he suggested, which is to skin her alive, slowly." Oculass began blinking faster, heart rate accelerating as the Skin-Taker's jaw began to slide back and forth. "Once she's peeled like an orange, I'll grind her skin. I'll take those whitened little eyeballs of hers and keep them in a jar for Lord Polybius. Her head full of hair is nothing more than a bonus for my next coat!"

Something about her look of fear felt wrong to Slender Man, but he couldn't figure out why. The way Oculass was struggling, it didn't feel completely natural like someone desperately trying to break free or get away. Come to think of it, why did she come into this realm? She wasn't like the others at all, and it couldn't have just been for her vast knowledge on the creepypastas themselves. Why would someone blinded like her even care about those in the first place?

When the Skin-Taker finally ripped apart the coat that Oculass was wearing, well, he was more than a little surprised to see that the assets weren't just from a puffy jacket. "I certainly have options now, don't I? Normally I would take a little marker to decide where I'll start and stop trimming, but for now," he took out a tiny pair of scissors, pressing it against Oculass's arm.

"Hold on," Slender Man started, "before you begin, I should go back to attend to the young man, and let Polybius have the chance at questioning her."

"Really?" The Skin-Taker grumbled. "If I kill her now, her friends will lose their morale, you know."

"Yes, I do know, but if we kill her, we also lose some answers," Slender Man pointed out, leaving the two puppets behind so he could retrieve Polybius.

A few minutes later, Slender Man returned with Polybius, who was glad that Oculass was blind, so she couldn't see the struggle of him maintaining his composure. "Well, well, well. One of the intruders who came after the man we have in our custody. The one who actually interests us the most. Do not think you can fool me. I know that you are of Gamindustri, as I once was. Which makes your presence here the most confusing." He spoke, with a menacing presence that made Oculass shudder.

"Why would you come here?" He questioned. "The human has no true connection to you, you have little combat ability besides your cane, and your blindness makes you more of a burden than an asset! So why are you are meddling in our affairs? I suggest you answer quickly, for Skin-Taker is an impatient skeleton, and usefulness is how you survive here."

"My information was helpful," Oculass started, voice cracking under the pressure.

"How is it you are so well-informed, and choose to follow these humans, rather than stay behind, or communicate with them in some other form!?" Polybius demanded to know, slamming his fist against a wall.

"I," Oculass wheezed, somehow smiling through the threats. "I am… a fanatic, of horror stories, games, and movies! I enjoy the feeling of being scared, especially since the fear is increased by me not knowing what something really looks like!"

Once she announced that, the Skin-Taker nearly withdrew the tiny scissors, both Slender Man and Polybius were flabbergasted.

"I lost my sight when working on virtual reality helmet a long time ago. When I was adjusting, I learned how frightening the unknown was, and not being able to see things that could threaten me started giving me more of an adrenaline rush than before. It was like," Oculass smiled, sighing, "I wanted to be my own survival horror, chased by something that could tear me apart. Why, I even once gave VR support to Slender's game!"

Slender Man, feeling awkward as Polybius and Skin-Taker shot a glare at him, made himself clear. "The feeling is not mutual, I do not support your meddling, human," Slender Man informed her.

"Anyway, fear ended up being something I sought so frequently! Virtual reality made it look like monsters could really jump at people, and it was something I could imagine in my dark visions, something lurking in the corner, it all excited me!" Oculass cried out as the Skin-Taker began pushing the scissors into her skin.

"If only you could see," Polybius growled, "then I could show you something to really be afraid of, you've frustrated me enough for me to want to break my true form out before mortal eyes, for it is something beyond your imagination!"

"It is!?"

Wait, why did she sound happy about that?

This woman who went around smacking Sen and Hasshaku-sama, was suddenly happy about a threat from Polybius, accepting the defenseless state rather than fighting back? Slender Man tried to think of an answer, how someone could love the idea of being fearful for their life—

Oh, _oh no._

Just how was he supposed to react to this? Call her out in front of his own servants in a furious manner? Or question her in the most baffled way? Either way, his next shout was a mix of both.

"This conversation has certainly been intriguing, but I now see that you are not who we should be wary of. Creeped out by, yes, but not wary. And now, you will tell us what we need to know about your companions."

"That, I will never do."

Polybius sent a chill through the room by giving a smile. "Very well. Skin-Taker, off of her." Both Skin-Taker and Slender Man were shocked that Polybius seemed to give mercy. "I am sorry to derive you of your fun, but that would be giving her what she wants, wouldn't it? No. Take her to another room, put her in a comfortable chair, bring in a television, and have it endlessly play Disney movies."

"Wait, what? That's not how this is supposed to go! You're supposed to torture me, cut me up, make me scream! Not make me feel welcome with innocent family movies! No, NO, _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

Polybius smiled again as she was carried off. "Ah, now that is more like it." He turned to Slender Man, who was still frozen in shock over Oculass's reaction. "Well, what are you waiting for? We have intruders to prepare for!" Slender Man turned and ran, hoping that he would not disappoint Polybius to that point ever.

"Ah, and we should also tend to the cuts Skin-Taker gave her. We wouldn't want her to get an infection." Slender Man ran faster.

Her cuts were washed out, she was laying in a comfortable chair, and some Disney movie was playing before her. Oculass hated it. She hated everything about it, and was more than vocal about it than she normally was.

"I hate these kinds of movies," she whined, tied up so she couldn't leave.

"What's wrong? Don't like the joyous songs of birds chirping?" The Skin-Taker sneered, not that it was exactly his kind of thing either. "I would be more than willing to play a regular episode of Candle Cove for you, but I don't think that would go over well with Lord Polybius, now would it?"

"It's not that," Oculass groaned, "I hate these kinds of movies because of how much dark, disturbing content they alter from their original fairy tales!" Skin-Taker halted on his tying, looking at Oculass in a peculiar manner.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You don't know?" Oculass smiled. "Like in the Grimm's version for Cinderella, the stepsisters would cut off parts of their feet, like their toes and heel to fit in the glass slipper, and birds blind them by pecking their eyes. That's the kind of stuff that doesn't make it into those overly colorful, cheery movies."

The Skin-Taker drew back, genuinely surprised and perplexed to hear such a drastic change in the story's tone. "Is that true? That certainly would have been a much more interesting film," he chuckled darkly. "Do you have any other differences between those little Disney films and written counterparts?"

"In the original tale for The Little Mermaid, the titular protagonist must stab her beloved prince and let the blood drip to her newly formed feet if she wishes to become a mermaid again. She can't bring herself to do it and kills herself, her body dissolving into sea foam." During the distraction, Oculass began to pull away the rope which restrained her wrists, albeit slowly so the Skin-Taker would not notice.

"Well, that's a completely different story from what we got—"

"There's also one of the earliest versions of Sleeping Beauty, where the titular princess, where a king from a passing area became intimate with the princess while she was cursed to slumber forever, and she gives birth while she's unconscious." Oculass chuckled. "The king's wife becomes furious and demands her babies to be killed and cooked, served as food."

"Ooooh, how twisted!"

"One of my personal favorite stories, which I had once read back when I had sight," Oculass continued, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In the original ending, Frollo has Esmerelda to be hanged by his troops. After Quasimodo kills him, he remains by Esmerelda's body, until he dies of starvation. His skeleton is eventually found, and it crumbles to dust."

She then got up from her seat, startling the Skin-Taker. "I'll be nice enough to not turn you to dust though!"

"How did you!?" he growled, taking out cutlass. "Trying to distract me with fairy tales, are you? You don't have your worthless little stick though, and you can't see!"

"Yes, but I can hear your bones rattling constantly." Skin-Taker tried to swing at her, only to find his attack easily evaded. "Case in point!" She then made a run for it, arms stretched out forward so she wouldn't hit any walls, hoping to find something that could guide her.

"Goddammit!" He knew he wouldn't be fast enough to catch her. She'll probably get smart and crush him under her weight or something if she was that cornered, and given his skinny stature, that wasn't exactly something he wanted. "Horace!"

"Y-yes sir!?"

"Get her! Get her! We can't have her reunite, much less find Polybius's prisoner!"

As Oculass ran off, she gave a quick smirk. "Good thing I like Daredevil as much as Horror."

—

"A→re you okay over there, BEN?" Sen asked, seeing the statue return while he was still bruised up from the fall he took earlier.

"No," BEN answered, his hollow face torn up. He was immediately met by Sen taking out some bandage tape in an attempt to fix up the fellow monster. "They're coming. Polybius and Slender are probably going to have to greet them soon. Those twerps wiped the floor with nearly everyone."

"I'm sure Lord Polybius cA→n take them if we can't! Right Glitchlett?" A small, distorted Diglett with pixels over its face popped out from below, chirping in an glitchy manner. "Yep, that's right! Polybius is stronger than A→nyone here, because of his multiple forms and cool power, right? So that would mean, anyone who looks at him would be in for a pretty rough time!"

"You really believe in him and Slender Man, huh?" BEN sighed.

"Don't you?"

"No, I don't." BEN answered in a snappy manner. "Quite honestly, I've given hope on us making anymore efforts at standing out or existing! So many have come, and gone in this realm. Some monsters get rejected, get killed, get dropped in your glitchy realm, others can outright die from natural causes if they do not strive in this world! Remember what happened to the Creepy Black Pokémon Ghost?"

"He used that Curse A→ttack too many times?" Sen asked, their conversation now being heard by the fleeing Oculass.

"Yes. And when you do something too much, it gets stale. When something gets stale, it stops being scary, people forget, and monsters die. There was nothing he could do to cling to being feared, so he perished." BEN continued, sighing more heavily now. "This is going to backfire, and I just know it. Polybius isn't going to know what to do with this kind of power. He's just desperately clinging to something."

Sen just kind of shut down into a depressed state after being told that, slumping with Glitchlett sitting near him. "Don't take it so personally, it's not your fault or anything. I just know it's inevitable at this point. Momo is probably gonna stop being relevant really fast too."

After hearing that, Oculass took a stop to think about the forces she was up against.

Was there really nothing that could be done…?

After wandering for a few minutes, Oculass's face lit up a bit when she heard some familiar voices.

"Oculass!"

"There you are!"

"Are you OK?"

"Your arm!"

"It's treated?"

"Yes. Not only did they treat my wounds, they had me watch Disney movies! Who knew they were so evil?"

The others silently decided not to delve into that statement any further and continued on their way. "We may have lost BEN, but I got enough power to track down Polybius. And he's right around this corner!" They turned to see a big hall, barely lit, with Polybius and Slender Man standing at the end. "I must admit, while your intrusion is nothing less absolutely unbearable, I am impressed you made it this far."

"And unless you want to get 'impressed' some more, you'll give us back our friend!"

"But of course. He's right here." They were surprised to hear Polybius surrender outright, and even more to see him and Slender Man step to the side to reveal Nick standing behind them. But something was off.

"Heh…..heh, heh…...hehehehehehehehehehehehe…."

"Nick, we appear to have some guests. Guests that have been able to keep their sanity and courage. Do something about it, would you?"

Nick stepped forward, revealing that he was holding a rusty, two-handed blade. But what struck right into his friends' hearts was the look on his face. An impossibly wide grin paired with huge bug-eyes, seeming like he was staring at nothing, yet staring at everything. And his response came in a raspy wheeze.

"Yes…..do something…...spread the terror…..spread…...the fear….."

…

"Nick? That's your name, right?" Oculass, not being able to see the look on his face of course, completely broke the mood. "You sound tired, are you okay? I don't dislike the idea of spreading fear though, so long as it's done to me rather than someone unwilling."

Just about nearly everyone fell over from the mood-killer.

"Joke…...bad…..not make fear…..only….annoyances….." Nick charged forward, slashing the blade at Oculass. Caela pulled her out of the way in time as Michael pulled up Link's shield to block Nick. "Ugh! He's not using his powers, but his blows have quite a lot of kick to them!"

"Whatever got him to this state must have caused some sort of adrenaline rush or something. Like when people get a massive amount of fear!" Natalie's realization nearly made her miss that Caela left Oculass by her side, as she joined the fight against her friend.

"Maybe Polybius did something." Natalie turned to Oculass as she deduced the situation. "Polybius was said to be a government experiment that involved messing with people's minds, trying to control them or just drive them mad. The worst of it happened when some people actually committed suicide in order to escape the madness." Natalie looked in horror at Nick, still giggling as he kept slashing at Michael and Caela without a second thought. Turning to the two behind it, her horror turned into a nasty glare.

"How long can you hold him off?"

"Maybe a minute or two. We only got enough NGP left for a few shifts."

"That's all I need. Oculass," Natalie handed Oculass her cane. "Can you hold off Slender Man?"

"I think I can do something. Which direction is he in?"

Natalie aimed her in the direction leading to Slender Man. Oculass ran forward, prompting Slender Man to lash out with his tentacles. In response, Oculass started twirling her cane, catching the tentacles and tangling them up. And with a mighty yank, she pulled Slender Man toward her, putting him in a headlock.

Learning to expect it by now, Natalie ran forward to Polybius, who was a bit surprised at the sudden frontal assault. He was even more surprised when she turned into Sonic and used a homing attack on him. Polybius was able to dodge direct damage, but the spikes caught hold of his cape. Ripping it off, it revealed a simple form of a man in a black suit, wearing dark sunglasses. "Revealing my inner form only makes it tougher!"

Polybius revealed he had some moves to go with that form, pulling off kung fu you could only see in a spy movie. All Natalie could do was block him until there was an opening. But there were none. It was getting obvious how Polybius was able to defend his place as ruler. Natalie could only think of one thing. Jumping back, she concentrated all the power she had, turning into Arle Nadja and unleashing the biggest fireball she could muster.

Upon throwing it, Polybius did not have any room to dodge. The flames engulfed him. Even he had to yell out in reaction to the heat. His yell caused the whole room to pause. Even Nick stopped to slowly turn his head. "Fear….source…..?" As the flames subsided, what was revealed even terrified the Creepypastas watching. A robotic form, white-hot from the fire, emerged, looking like something from the 80s, but entirely unscathed.

The only thing that was left were his sunglasses, but they were nearly melted, looking a little creepy. But what was really scary was the smile he was doing. "It seems that just like your friend, the only way to break you is to bring out my ultimate power." He tossed his sunglasses aside, revealing that his eyes were nothing more than two screens, showing a strange pattern. Grabbing Natalie, he pulled her close, until all that she could see were the screens. "Don't fight it. Just think, you'll be reunited with him again, in the pure realm of madness." Natalie had some trouble listening to what he said. The patterns felt like they were going straight into her skull. The only thing that came through clearly was the thought of being with Nick. At that moment, she nearly surrendered.

A loud thud brought her to attention for a split second. Lying at their feet were Caela and Michael, clearly beat up. Nick walked up, grinning. "They….were no match…..for the fear…..soon…...we will all…..be as one….thanks to the source….of the fear….." The sound of that seemed to make something click inside Natalie.

"N….no…."

"What?"

"I…..said…..NO!"

Clenching her fists, Natalie started to squirm. "You're not going to take me, my friends, or anyone else! You may be the 'source of fear', but that does mean you are invincible! I've faced villains so much scarier than you, that you're just a lightshow compared to them! And the courage gained from that is the reason that you're gonna lose!"

Reaching up, she grabbed Polybius's arms, and started to drain his power as fast as she could. "W-wait, what are you doing?!"

"Awwww, are you scared?" Natalie, in layman terms, went boom. Unleashing the power she got in a tremendous shockwave, she sent Polybius flying into the wall, where he fell down in a slump. Nick's eye started to twitch with the corners of his mouth.

"Fear…...source?...no….stay back….back…...BACK!"

Natalie just used her legs to kick the sword out of Nick's hands before grabbing him in for a kiss. She broke it off after a few seconds, glad to see that his eyes were getting a bit calmer. "Natalie…?" Natalie was about to say something, but then Nick fainted. Again. "OK, it was a little understandable, but you have got to fix that before it gets worse." Natalie then proceeded to get her friends comfortable while she healed them.

"Polybius," Oculass started, continuing to fight Slender Man, all while hearing everything else which went on. "If I had known he was the reason for this occurrence— Ah!"

In the moment of distraction, Slender Man freed himself and began binding tentacles around Oculass, preparing to choke the life out of her. "Those who cross Lord Polybius in this realm, must perish! I do not care if you have once supported The Arrival a long while ago, that time has passed, and for your interference, I should force you into becoming a proxy."

"Hm, well," Oculass coughed, "where's the issue in that?"

"You're right. You would like that, the sickening, depraved person you are." Slender Man hissed. "But you can't be running around. Even if you enjoy the thought of your cruel, unusual death that should not be named to keep the fear of the unknown, I shall do exactly that, since Lord Polybius was far too kind to let you breathe."

She actually started struggling for once, showing a genuine sign of fear and concern in her whitened eyes, it wasn't one that was getting sick thrill out of it either. "I," she choked, "I heard what Sen and BEN were talking about. This plot is to keep you all relevant and feared, right? You all need to be feared, unless you die."

"That is correct." Slender Man tightened his grip. "That's what we need right now, especially after I had messed up, I'm afraid. We plan to invade your realm, and leech off of fear from there, once this is all over."

Oculass blinked, then started laughing, her fears fading away.

"Oh, is that it? Well, then this can be easily solved!" Her body became so oddly calm. "You see, in 2017, a game based off of Polybius was released for the PS4, and it has VR support! You could all drop this instead of messing with both fear sources and NGP, then come over to Gamindustri! I'd be more than welcoming, you know."

"Yes, you would be," his tentacles tightened more, making Oculass panic again. "Polybius plans to combine all of his sources of fear with NGP, making him the most powerful entity there is in your realm—"

"No! You can't!" Oculass cried. "That kind of combination, it would be too unstable for anyone to handle! He wouldn't make himself stronger from it, he would just end up creating something out of his control, I'm sure of it!"

"Why are you so certain?" Slender Man threatened, ready to finally snap her neck. "Is this some sort of thing you have attempted?"

…

"Yes."

Upon hearing that, Slender Man immediately released her, retracting all of his tentacles in pure astonishment. "You," Slender Man stammered, "you what!?"

"In my many experiments at reaching a peak VR experience, there was a spread of NGP caused by a goddess using it. I recovered but a small fragment of it, thinking it would help me create something. I wanted to make the most terrifying monster in VR. This was a couple of years ago, so I remember, I used bits and pieces from your game; The Arrival." Oculass explained, laying her head down low. "It was that day, when I learned to defend myself against a legitimate threat. A horrible monster was created, one that couldn't be tamed. I couldn't see it, but I somehow managed to kill it. It was too unstable for anyone to use."

There was a long pause as Oculass sighed, trying to pick her cane back up. "I felt terrible for ending the life of a monster, but it had to be done. It was too violent, and wanted to consume everything, even reality. I came into this for monster fun-times, I admit, but to think that this was what was going on. I cannot allow it!"

How… how was Slender Man supposed to react to any of this?

"Please!" Oculass held her hand out. "Just let me stop this, let me help. I don't want to be enemies here, I want to help all of you retain the fearful reputation you all once had! I do not want your lives to be lost, and I don't want Polybius to do anything foolish!"

What was he supposed to do?

Should he really be asking for an outsider's help? From the woman who had caused his lord so much grief? She who came from the realm that even now, Polybius held a grudge on?

Or was he going to let the world fall apart again, and have it be his own fault so passively? This woman, she was strange and irritating, but she knew what she was doing.

Oculass genuinely didn't want the fear of these internet legends to go away… and neither did Slender Man.

—

Polybius had been laying there for a long while, standing completely still as his features were gently examined by the blind woman. Oculass dragged her fingers across the robotic form and screen-like eyes. "What a strange frame," she spoke, "will he be waking up soon? I want to warn him."

"I don't know," Slender Man answered, "no one has ever knocked him down that hard. Do you really think it's appropriate to caress my lord like that though? It's rather inappropriate."

"I'm just trying to get him to wake up!"

Her little yell caused Polybius to reboot, his eyes flashing before Oculass, but the patterns went unseen by her blind eyes. As his consciousness returned, rage began boiling in his body over the sight of this particular, mortal cretin.

"RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Polybius's hands shot forward, grabbing for Oculass's throat. She quickly brought her cane out to block him, but she was easily overpowered. Luckily she was able to deflect him enough that he grabbed the collar of her shirt, but the pressure from his anger was still overwhelming. "YOU! If it wasn't for you, it would have all been mine! The outsiders, the New Game Plus, this world, Gamindustri, the outside world, everything and everyone in control of fear and madness, with me in control of the fear! But it's all ruined! By you, you INSUFFERABLE WOMAN!"

She blinked with her blank eyes. "I'm that insufferable? That's quite rude. We're only trying to help you." Polybius then quickly darted his eyes over to Slender Man, who wasn't making any attempt to murder the one who was preventing his own takeover.

"Slender Man… what exactly, is the meaning of this? Why is she breathing, walking, and overall, alive and well!?"

"My lord—"

"KILL HER! I don't care if she gets such a thrill from it, I want her dead!"

"My lord, she's trying to stop you from making potentially irrational decisions that could bring harm to everyone." Polybius found his anger overflowing even more, trying to stand on his two feet, just so he could lash out at both of them. "Unpredictable and questionable as this one is, it seems you are not the first one to be experimenting. She seems to be offering help, so long as we do not do anything regretful."

"Irrational decisions that bring harm to everyone? What a load of talk! Hypocrisy from the horse's own mouth!" Slender Man flinched at these words, unable to bring himself to retort. "You are the reason we have had to find a solution, even if it was drastic measures! If anyone would bring upon ruin to our realm, it is you!"

"Hey now!" Oculass objected, somehow courageous enough to defend a notorious monster. "If he really wanted to bring destruction and ruin, he wouldn't have bothered to listen to someone from outside this world, would he? If anyone knows what's best for this place, it should be someone looking in from the outside!" She then paused as both monsters gave her a questionable glance. "Oh, right, I guess hear from the outside in my case."

"Again….with the jokes…._this is not a comedy world!_" Polybius flung Oculass back, making her land on her backside. "This is why we are not as mighty as we once were! We are not taken seriously! And when we are, the important parts get forgotten and we become materials for memes! But no more! We will rise again, even if it's over your cold, beatened, bodies!" Polybius got up and started to walk towards the gamers. Slender Man reached to stop him….

….only for Polybius to slump forward and freeze in place. Puzzled, Slender Man looked closer, seeing that Polybius's eyes were off, and the heat he was emitting was cooling. "All the damage he took has caused him to shut down. He won't be bothering anyone for a while."

"That's good. Maybe we can finally leave now." Slender Man and Oculass turned to Natalie, who was able to heal her friends the best she could. The three of them were able to wake up and get up on their own, though Nick needed a bit of help to stay steady. "You doing all right, Nick?"

"Y-yeah. I can think clearly, at least. But Natalie, what about you?" He nearly fell over reaching for her. "I'm fine. I only saw it for a few seconds at most. All I have is a slight headache." Nick seemed to relax from that, but Natalie could not help but be concerned by a slight twitch in his eye.

"Nick," Oculass spoke, "please tell me, did Polybius put his fear sources inside of you?"

"Is that what you wanna call it?" Nick groaned a bit. "It's falling out now though, so I should be fine."

Her blank eyes widened, hands trembling as she quickly tried to pull both Natalie and Nick away. "Hey! What are you doing!?" Natalie yelled to her, confused by the sudden, violent reaction.

"He really did do the one thing I feared, didn't he?" Oculass muttered. "Polybius, you fool… the very thing I wanted to prevent, was inside of that young man this whole time!"

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

A tiny puddle formed on the ground where Nick once was, almost like a splotch of blood, which slowly turned a pink color from some sparks of NGP. The color changed to that of a flesh tone, expanding like a balloon. "What the heck is that!?" Natalie shouted, Oculass could hear the sounds of bones cracking, indicating that something horrible was close by.

"You have to destroy it! Don't ask questions!" Oculass cried out.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Fear Itself**

There wasn't anything worse that could have been witnessed right now.

It was a horrifying amalgamation of parts. There were throbbing buboes akin to what would be seen on an unfortunate victim of the plague, having a sickly blackened color. Its flesh-coated body pulsated, slowly pushing veiny limbs out from its side. Chunks of dried skin and blood were peeled away as eyes and mouths began to open up.

Natalie was mortified, a mutual feeling that was shared amongst everyone else. The blackened buboes began to spread across its form, turning its whole skin into a sickly grey color.

"This wretched being, just what is it!?" Nick gagged. "Just how in the heck are we supposed to destroy it!?"

The way it moved and expanded almost resembled breathing. The amalgamate attempted to take a more mobile form by tearing off unneeded flesh, slowly giving itself arms and legs. "I said to not ask questions and destroy it!" Oculass shouted. "Hurry up and do so, it doesn't matter how you do it!"

Nick, in spite of his exhaustion, began regaining his usual, cocky demeanor. "Well, I've played enough Silent Hill to have a few ideas on how to handle this I think!" As he unsheathed Pyramid Head's Great Knife and lunged forward, stabbing the disgusting blob of flesh, Nick found that he couldn't pull the weapon away.

Michael, who had finally regained consciousness, turned himself into Ness and unleashed PK Rockin on the beast, which again, just merely absorbed the psychic attack rather than having it do any damage. Both Caela and Natalie attempted similar attacks, but to no avail.

"No, it can't be," Oculass murmured, "that creature can absorb NGP and add it to its own power? All of you stand back!" All four of the gamers turned to Oculass, who was only armed with her cane. "I'm going to try to get rid of it!"

"But Oculass, you aren't equipped with much!" Natalie pointed out.

"It's still better than making it stronger and allowing it to gain intelligence!" Oculass proceeded to take a swing at the amalgamate, which had become entirely blackened by now, only to have her cane grabbed at and snapped in two.

The fats of flesh began to peel away like a chrysalis, a humanoid being with grey skin and blackened fingertips and soaked hair emerging from inside.

"There's nothing to fear, but fear itself," it croaked, sounding almost like a dying individual. "Isn't that right? Well, I am fear itself, and fear can never be buried away or destroyed."

"You're just an accident! You were only just created!" Oculass shouted, unable to feel her surroundings due to the threat close by.

"It doesn't mean I don't understand what I am. That source of fear is enough to tell me what my purpose was, while that strange energy allowed me to be more intelligent and powerful, to take a form similar to man." Bits of blackened flesh protruded from the creature's new body, hanging off in peculiar places, soaked in a dark substance.

"You were only just born, yet you already know what your purpose is?" Oculass inquired.

"Yes, it's to consume," the fear replied, "fear consumes humanity, it consumes all life, leaving all to be either vulnerable or irrationally violent. Every little world each of you know and love, will be blanketed in it, consumed by the wretched one who stands before you. Even now, even as you are blinded, the sick feeling of unease will go through your body."

For the first time in her life, even though she could not see, Oculass felt nauseous.

Nick's eye started to twitch violently, right before he started cackling. "Hahahahahahaha, it's just like a slasher film, where the guy's not really dead and comes back for revenge! Only in this case, we got brave only to get scared again! Hahahahahahahahahaaaaa!" Natalie grew scared as well, more for Nick's state of mind, which was still not completely well. Panicking, she slapped him, hoping to snap him out of it. She was so focused on Nick, she didn't notice that the amalgamation didn't seem to like Nick's outburst.

"Woah, woah, Natalie, did you really have to hit him like that? That was a bit much."

"Maybe she got a little 'slap-happy'".

SNORT!

Michael looked at Caela, who couldn't help but react to Oculass's little joke. "Sorry, but with the tension, that was unexpected, so the laugh was unintentional. Do you see what I mean?"

"No, I don't." Now both Michael and Caela groaned at Oculass, as the amalgamation grew more annoyed.

"Cease this laughing! Such things will not be tolerated in my presence!"

Oculass just gave a smirk. "Sorry, but since I know your nature, I also know your weakness: positive emotions." Walking forward in a confident manner, she laid her hand on the amalgamation's chest, making it burn under its palm.

"AAAAAAAA! YOU, WILL, PAY! SO SWEARS THE FEAR-MONGER!" The air started to ripple around him distorting the view of the entire room. Then everyone started to feel a tingle in their heads, before staring in horror.

Michael and Caela saw Wizzro and Hoodlums, respectively, being killed by the God and Lady of Games. Natalie saw the Dark Champion being endlessly tortured at the hands of Samael. And Nick saw Natalie dead at the feet of the Phantom God. Oculass wasn't given any horrific vision, but she could definitely feel the unease of everyone else.

Fear-Monger smiled, feeling victory in his grasp. He slowly approached Oculass, ready to strike her from behind. He reached forward, only to have his arm grabbed by two hands out of nowhere. He looked in surprise to see Natalie and Caela holding him in place. "WHAT?!"

"Like I told Polybius, I've seen way scarier!"

"And your illusions don't work if reality has a stronger truth!"

The two readied their fists and punched Fear-Monger right in the face, sending him reeling back. He steadied himself, only to be conked on the head with a baseball bat. As he fell, Michael stood behind him, his arms as Ness's, still shaking a bit.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Having to relive the death of a friend is not fun, but I was able to keep my mind."

"I guess it was easier for us, as we were able to break the illusion when we remembered that what we saw didn't happen."

"But what about Nick?"

The three turned to see Nick on the floor, eyes rolled back and twitching like mad. It was also possible he was foaming at the mouth a little. "Guess it was a bit too much in his state." Then they turned to a hissing sound, and saw Oculass dissolving Fear-Monger with just a touch, while humming a happy tune. "Okay, we need to leave this world, now." They all gave a huge nod of agreement. Just before they all started to step away though, they could hear a gurgling sound from the dissolving Fear-Monger.

Wait, no, it sounded more like sobbing. Oculass turned her head back to the Fear-Monger which she had touched. Natalie hesitated, looking over to what was once a dissolving pile of whatever horrific mystery, and saw a much smaller, grey-skinned, humanoid figure being left behind in its place. "I hate all of these positive, joking emotions towards fear," he groaned in a more squeaky, immature voice. "I am the Wretched Fear-Monger, I was made to instill and consume fear on all life. Why am I being laughed at, mocked, and ignored?"

Upon closer inspection, Natalie realized that the Fear-Monger, underneath its disgusting shells, was only a mere child.

"He's just a kid?" Caela questioned.

"More like a baby with the way he's acting," Michael grumbled.

"Ah, I guess that only makes sense because he was just recently born." Oculass giggled. "He must not be able to completely mature unless he's feared in the way he wants to be. It's actually kind of fitting when you think about it, most fans and writers who desire to make creepypasta are usually young children trying to be cool or scary." A set of tentacles then picked up the Fear-Monger.

Slender Man, who had been closely watching the scene that had taken place, made his way back over to his unconscious master. "My lord Polybius? Are your systems rebooting yet? You normally recover from damage by now." The eyes of Polybius flickered back on and his body started to rise. He was still too drastically weakened to fight as Polybius slightly struggled in his attempt to get up, but once he regained full consciousness, he just stared at the Fear-Monger.

"What in the fresh hell is that!?"

"The blind one had warned us about the plan potentially bringing harm to everyone," Slender Man sighed, "but thankfully, the Fear-Monger, which you had indirectly created, has been neutralized into a smaller, harmless state. Polybius, this newly born creature would have overtaken not only you, but all life as we know it by blanketing the worlds in fear. I hate to say it, but we were lucky that mortal humans could stop it with positive influence."

"It's your responsibility to take care of that brat now!" A recovered Nick joked, laughing at Polybius's expense.

"What!? No!" He quickly became defensive. "I am the ruler of this realm of terror, not somebody's father! You, insufferable blind one! You knew about this and tried to warn me, given this had happened to you before, so you should take care of this reject!" The Fear-Monger recoiled at Polybius's words, hiding behind Slender Man's tentacles.

"My touch is what causes it to dissolve and be in pain, unless I started expressing more active terror, I really can't take care of it when it's not actually that scary—"

"Kill it then for all I care!" Polybius shouted.

"No way! That's too cruel! Isn't it one of your own!?" Oculass retorted.

"You had no problem getting rid of one you made by accident," Slender Man pointed out to her.

"Yeah, but—"

"Can you all stop with this really weird custody battle over the Fear-Monger?" Natalie huffed. "You all complain about not being taken seriously, but this isn't really helping your case. Maybe you should just get some tips on regaining the respect you long for, without taking any drastic measures like this!" She then started dragging Oculass away, preparing to leave. "I swear, it's just like the actual creepypasta writers, some of them can't take criticism or learn to improve."

Polybius, being too weak to pursue, just stared at the Fear-Monger in Slender Man's tentacles. "I'll spare you for now, but I don't tolerate being overthrown," he grumbled, "as for those nuisances, whether they really helped this realm or not doesn't matter. I will make sure to get them, and show them something to be afraid of! Then, I will have my revenge on Gamindustri—"

He was rambling, and quite honestly, Slender Man was getting sick of it rather than just listening to him out of respect and fear.

—

Nick was still a bit woozy, but he was able to lead everyone to the area in the woods where he fell into the Creepypasta world. It was a surprisingly quiet trip, but everyone still kept their guard. It seemed like the Creepypastas were going to let them go after their defeat, but they weren't going to take any chances. Natalie did not hesitate to create a portal back to their world, with everyone rushing through it. When it closed, three heads poked from the bushes.

"Boy am I glad they're gone! Bad enough that they were annoying, but strong enough to take down our toughest guys? Good riddance, I say! Right?" Momo nodded at Mr. Widemouth, posting the departure with #byebyescary. Mr. Bear just stood silently before turning to leave, not interested in the whole thing and just wondering here he can find some kids to kill. They had no idea what was to become of their world now, but anything was better than the gamers' presence.

They were all back in Nick's room, with Natalie preparing a portal for Oculass. "It's nice to finally get all of that behind us." Oculass turned to give her a hug. "Aw, but that doesn't mean you have to be a stranger! Come visit me anytime, Natty!" Natalie froze in fear at the nickname. Worried, she turned around, only to almost fall over at Nick being conked out on his bed. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing. I'll make time to visit, bye!" Almost pushing Oculass through the portal and closing it, she turned to see Caela and Michael doing their best not to burst out laughing. "Man, did you dodge a bullet on that one!"

"If Nick learned that, you would never hear the end of it!" Natalie just as she grabbed her friends' shoulders a little too tightly. "Exactly, which is why he's not going to know about it, right?" They just gave a nod as they left to give Nick some peace to sleep. But Natalie couldn't help but be concerned at his eye, that was still twitching even when closed.

**EPILOGUE**

A month had passed since those events, plans to expand upon VR had been made even though Oculass was often alone in her work. Several creepy little dolls scattered around her, cloudy eyes starting to close as she was now succumbing to a tired state. Foolishly, Oculass had left her PS4 with Polybius playing in the background, seemingly unaware of what was about to happen next.

The cloaked figure emerged from her monitor, creeping up from behind. All it took was the slightest noise to awaken Oculass once more, as she heard one of the animated dolls make a sound to alarm her. "Is somebody there?" Oculass asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Foolish woman," Polybius laughed, "did you not recall my words previously? I said that I would come back and take my revenge on this world, all while your friends aren't present!" He then glanced at the smaller creature with wings. "Isn't that right, my wretched Fear-Monger? Polybius has returned, and you should warn the CPUs that are so worshipped!" The Fear-Monger didn't respond, instead keeping its red eyes on the sleepy Oculass.

"I didn't know I was getting company, otherwise I would have prepared something," she smiled, "it's good to know you're alright, Polybius, I was hoping you would come here on your own." Getting up from her work desk, Oculass grabbed her cane and began searching the area around her. "For the record, I've already informed Noire that you still exist and might reach this place, the others know about it too."

"What!?"

"They're alright with it," Oculass reassured, "you had your issues in the past, but the CPUs aren't at war with each other as much anymore, they've softened up, so they probably feel a little sorry for you—"

"Sorry for me!?" This only infuriated Polybius a bit more, almost as if he was being humiliated. "What is there to feel sorry about!?"

"The fact that they know plenty of individuals that had been sealed away at this point, and they did it to you rather than resolving things peacefully. I mean, if they did that, then maybe you wouldn't be so resentful, right?" His fingers curled, balling into a fist from his anger. "Please try to settle down. Times are changing, you know? Console Wars are a thing of the past, and so is fear over an urban legend for some arcade cabinet man—"

"How in the everliving Mephisto does this help me!? I'm to be feared!"

"Constantly being angry isn't a good, fearsome quality," Oculass huffed, which made the Fear-Monger wince. "You should try to be quiet, and have a menacing, charismatic presence that sends chills up people's spines because they don't know what you'll do."

"Do you not realize who you're talking to?" As Polybius continued denying the criticism, the Fear-Monger was listening carefully. It may have been nothing but a mere child, but he still listened, developing its body while Polybius had his back turned away. Shifting its form to become taller, the Fear-Monger tried to eliminate its initial skepticism of Oculass, moving towards her and looming over.

It placed a hand on Oculass's shoulder, wet and slimy, giving a feeling which chilled her to the bone. "Well, maybe you're right, Oculass." The Fear-Monger had a different voice than previously, almost trying to mimic Polybius. "Maybe I should try to relax," the hairs on her neck started to stand up at his voice, "I can surely try to reason with them. Will they trust me if I talk like this? Will I be using a calm personality to my advantage? Or am I really just as tired as they are?"

She fell over in excitement, Polybius immediately lashed out against the Fear-Monger, reverting it to natural size. "Since when have you learned to mimic my speech patterns and voice!?" He shouted. "Don't go pretending to be me near her! How in the hell did you pull that off without her catching on!?"

"You seem upset."

"Of course I'm upset! You tricked a blind woman into thinking you were me!"

"Are you sure you're not merely annoyed that I took her criticism better than you?"

Polybius tensed up with rage even more, all while the Fear-Monger was completely calm. Oculass quickly realized what exactly had just happened and tried to clear her mind. "You two need to stop, Creepypastas aren't going to be remembered so fondly if you act like this. Even besides Gamindustri, there will always be places where you are remembered fondly." Dusting off her shorts, Oculass offered her hand.

"I'm a despicable, fearsome being, a master. There is nothing to remember fondly. What makes you think that a welcome for me is possible? Especially with the chance that I could conquer Gamindustri?"

"No one cares when living abominations like Pyramid Head, Nemesis, or those funny animatronics are running around. They're in fact, quite loved for the impact they made with the fears people had. Like I said, things have changed."

"This is completely different!" Polybius visibly cringed as the blind woman grabbed his hand, even with the risk of him inflicting pure horror upon her. "We have a reputation to uphold, what makes you think introducing me to the world in a friendly way is going to help!?"

"Oh please," Oculass yawned, pulling the arcade abomination along. "Silent Hill has gone through worse no thanks to Konami's meddling, but it never damages the residents that greatly, because their image is still remembered for the good things, the terror struck in so many. Shouldn't that be the same for your friends?" Polybius felt his eyes widen, and even the Fear-Monger found itself surprised. "People will wipe things like , Jeff the Killer, and that bad Slender Man movie away. They'll fade, and you'll all stand the test of time, gaining the fear you desire when people look back fondly. If we all stood here remembering only the bad things, nobody would make progress."

Such oddly profound words…

"So that's why you should make the first step to moving forward, for all of those you rule over, rather than becoming stagnant."

The Fear-Monger just stared at Polybius, even with a naive mind, it understood the point Oculass was trying to make.

Progress was needed, no one could dwindle on the sullied reputation forever, this was a chance to create a new one.

"Don't think that I won't contemplate some sort of maniacal plot against this world," Polybius grumbled.

"Well if you do," Oculass sighed, "then I guess it would be my responsibility to stop you and your fellow monsters. I don't mind playing that kind of game, so long as you don't take any casualties."

He smiled again in amusement, even though the Fear-Monger didn't have that mutual feeling. "I think I look forward to that, foolish blind woman. Maybe I can adjust after all if those are the circumstances."

THE END?


End file.
